


Shock Waves

by antigrav_vector



Series: Supersonic [4]
Category: Marvel Adventures: Iron Man
Genre: Again, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Arm Porn, Aunt Peggy Carter, BAMF Peggy Carter, Bucky Barnes & Peggy Carter Friendship, CA:CW Fix-It, Cuddles, Fix-It, Fluff and Feels, I did way too much research for this, I legit designed this arm so I could write it, Lots of Tony Feels, M/M, Peggy Carter Lives, Protective Tony Stark, Recovering winter soldier, Relationship Negotiations, SAPPY dORKS, Science porn, The Author Regrets Nothing, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony POV, and Peggy and Pepper helped them out a few times, and by that I mean me designing shit, and more communicative than is usual in canon, back to the real world, but that's character development for you, clickable footnotes, it's time for the next thing to go wrong, like half this fic is Tony designing shit, no really Tony and Bucky are SO sappy, post-AoU, real world science, the Accords make a cameo appearance, then letting Tony talk about it, they've been together for long enough to learn that skill, they've had too much time to rest, today we ramble in the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-08-13 19:08:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20179252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: Secretary of State Ross is at it again. He wants control of the team to provide what he considers oversight. As ideas go, finding someone to take the heat for the team's actions isn't even the worst Tony's ever heard. He sure as hell doesn't want to be at Thunderbolt Ross' beck and call, though, and neither does anyone else on the team.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Posted with thanks to my beta team [dapperanachronism](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dapperanachronism), [betheflame](https://twitter.com/betheflame1), and [AoifeLaufeyson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AoifeLaufeyson).
> 
> **Shock wave:** a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. In air, an example of these is the supersonic booms that are caused by aircraft that break the sound barrier, such as the space shuttle. More information on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_wave) for those interested. (They have some really cool images.)
> 
> Because this fic is about as long again as everything posted so far, I plan to post it chapter by chapter, probably on Fridays and Tuesdays.
> 
> Timeline notes:  
This fic picks up about six months after the previous one. The date is March 2, 2017.

Tony eyed his phone warily. An invitation to show up at a Congressional hearing was not his idea of a good time to start with, and while he was very glad this wasn't one, it was nearly as bad. Thunderbolt Ross had decreed he would be showing up at the Tower, and left neither Tony nor Pepper or Rhodey any room to refuse.

That had left them scrambling to find out what he wanted and why. The Avengers hadn't been called on since Sokovia, so there were no new disasters Ross -- or anyone else -- could be objecting to. It had to be in response to that disaster of a mission.

But _what did he want_?

Tony and the team had been very open and active in their efforts to help clean up the mess Ultron had made and reestablish at least an approximation of normal life in the affected areas. Wanda, in particular, had been making headlines and very deliberately putting herself in the spotlight, doing everything she could up to and including talking to the press about what had gone down and her part in creating Ultron.

There was no reason for Ross to show up at the Tower, unless he'd somehow gotten wind that Bucky and James were living there, and Tony did _not_ like that idea one bit. FRIDAY had checked again and found no leaks this time either, so Tony didn't know how Ross could have found out that Tony was housing the Winter Soldier. Logic, therefore, pointed to Ross potentially having HYDRA connections, and wasn't that a cheery thought. 

"Tony," Peggy's voice broke him out of his reverie, "tell me what you're thinking about. It's got you wound quite tightly."

Tony scrubbed at his face with a groan. "The same old problem I've been mentally poking with a stick for the last three hours or so," he answered. "Ross."

Peggy shrugged. "We won't know what he wants until he gets here, and he's sure to make us wait on his pleasure."

"He's a bit of a dick," Tony agreed. "Very like him to go for the power play."

"Precisely," she shot back, leaning her hip against the back of the sofa of the common floor, where they were waiting for Ross to show up. "Now take a breath. Our plan is as solid as we can make it. James and Bucky are upstate with Steve, so even if this Ross does have HYDRA ties or is inclined to try to take either of them from us, he won't be able to, this time. And we can work to prevent a next attempt. Pepper has been informed that he's coming and will scramble the lawyers. I'm here to listen in, as your assistant, however temporary and specious that position might be. It will be fine. Even if he does get one over on us, the damage is already minimised as much as we can make it without knowing the specifics of what Ross is after."

FRIDAY interrupted them before Tony could answer. "Boss, yer visitor is in the lobby. Shall I let him up?"

Tony shook off as much of his worry as he could and shoved the rest into the metaphorical closet. "Yeah, have the receptionist send him here. His entourage stays in the lobby or outside the building. Don't talk to them directly and keep a close eye on them."

"Will do, Boss," she answered cheerfully.

"Took him long enough," Tony muttered.

Peggy made an amused sound and took up a position at his left shoulder, folio tucked neatly in the crook of her elbow and a polite look of attentiveness on her face. Tony spared a moment to admire her acting skills. She was a damned sight better at it than Steve, that was for sure. 

Then, as if on cue, the elevator chime sounded and the doors slid open to reveal a slightly irritated Ross. "Stark!" He barked, "what's the meaning of this? Making my assistants wait in the lobby! Who do you think you are?"

"Uh, this is my home, General," he responded keeping his tone of voice level, "you'll find that I do indeed have the right to decide who enters it."

Peggy smiled ever so slightly, definitely pleased with that play, and Tony relaxed a little. "What did you want to talk to me about so urgently?" He added as Ross stared at him for a beat, flummoxed.

That was enough of a cue for Ross to get himself back on script. "This," he said, opening his briefcase and pulling out a ream of paper. "The rest of your absentee team will get their own copies soon enough."

"What is it? Your new five year plan?" Tony taunted him.

"Your new leash, Stark," Ross answered with what sounded like glee in his voice. "You have a week to read and sign it. Refusal will mean you're a vigilante and a criminal, operating a military grade _prosthesis_," the word came out as a sneer, "on American soil without any kind of legal charter. Now that your shady parent organization is defunct, the UN and the US government both feel that people like _you_ need oversight, and they've tapped me to be the man to provide it."

Ross didn't stick around after delivering his ultimatum. Stepping back onto the elevator, he sneered at Tony and Peggy. "Remember. One week. If it's not back in my hands by then, I'll be entirely within my rights to confiscate that armour of yours."

The doors shut and Ross was gone.

Peggy stepped over to put a hand on his, and the move made Tony realise that he was so angry he was physically shaking.

"At least he wasn't after James," Peggy said after a slightly strained moment.

"I'm not sure this is better," Tony pointed out. "He's making another bid for control of the Avengers. He's been trying for years, and SHIELD has always blocked him, but after the Cap's little tantrum in DC, the organization got decimated. You see the result. It's been more than three years, and they haven't recovered from what happened."

"Well, now we have little choice but to try to call his bluff, I suppose," she said with a deep breath that wasn't quite a sigh. "FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Ms. Carter?"

"Has that pompous ass left the Tower?" Peggy asked and Tony cracked a small smile.

"He has, and the last of his entourage has just left, as well," FRIDAY replied. "They attempted to plant a few bugs while inside the building. I've alerted the counterespionage team."

Peggy nodded, looking and sounding for all the world like an old hand, even though Tony knew for a fact that she hadn't known what a bug was before last month. "Let us know when all of the bugs are gone, FRIDAY, and then send Bucky and James the all clear to come back. No doubt they're both going to be on edge until they're home again."

Hearing her call the Tower home was still a bit of a surprise to him, even though he knew she considered it such, as did Bucky and James. He also knew both iterations of Bucky Barnes were a bit uneasy being away from him, and that being cooped up with Steve and the team would only compound that nagging irritation.

"Don't forget to warn the team that Ross is likely to show up on their doorstep." Tony took the opportunity to organize his thoughts, then gestured to the problem-filled pile of paper Ross had dumped on them. "Then call up the the law team. I need one of them, Simmons if he's available, to come up here to get this pile of horseshit back off my hands. I want to know about any and all ways that we can blow holes in it, possible alternatives we can propose, whatever. And -- this is crucial -- if he really can try to take the armour if I refuse to sign it. It’s proprietary technology, so he shouldn’t be able to, but let’s get a double check on that."

"Sure thing, Boss," his AI answered. "I'll alert Ms. Potts, as well."

Tony let himself fall onto his sofa and sprawl out on his back with an arm flung over his face. "Guess it was time for the next thing to blow up in my face," he muttered.

Peggy perched delicately and gracefully on the sofa at his hip. "What makes you say that?"

"In my experience, if nothing's wrong, that means something is _very_ wrong," Tony told her with a groan. "Even before Iron Man, there was always a fire to put out, even if those were usually to do with the tabloids or me getting arrested for whatever it was that day. Now, they're more political in nature."

Peggy snorted, reluctantly amused, then said, "I'm familiar with how that goes. Well, to some degree. Howard had a habit of getting himself into those sorts of tangles, too, though I suspect it was less intense than what you've seen over the years."

Their discussion was interrupted by the chime of the elevator a second time, and Peggy stood giving him a final pat on the shoulder. He sat up as Simmons stepped out into the room, then got to his feet.

"Mr. Simmons," Tony greeted him, "I'm afraid I have to ask you and your team to drop what you're working on. A living nightmare just arrived in paper form, which means you're all on deck."

Simmons, a tall lanky man with slightly limp dirty blond hair and watery blue eyes, eyed the stack of paper. "Is that the new fire that needs extinguishing?" He asked, sounding like he knew the answer already.

"Yeah. I assume FRIDAY gave you the overview." Tony smiled tightly. "Thunderbolt Ross is doing his best to take away Iron Man or gain direct control of the suit. He'll be serving the same papers or similar to the rest of the team sometime today, I suspect. Might be doing just that as we speak, in fact."

Simmons groaned. He'd been part of the team that had stopped Stern and Ross from getting their hands on the armour the first time around, before the Avengers had formed. "That man is very persistent," he said, his tone hovering somewhere between resigned and disgusted.

"He's been after Banner for years, too," Tony pointed out. "You know what to do."

Simmons nodded and took the sheaf of papers, then offered Tony a wry smile. "We'll figure something out, though it may take up to four business days. Possibly more, depending on how abstruse and convoluted he made this. There's a lot of paper here."

Damn it all. "That might be a problem, Ross gave me a week's time to decide whether I'm going to sign it and then get it back on his desk if I did."

Simmons stared at him. "You're joking. He expects you to-- I knew the man was inclined to play dirty, but that's low."

"He wants to force me into signing it without reading it," Tony agreed. "Whatever it takes, overtime, whatever. It’ll be covered. Just get it done."

With a mock salute, Simmons nodded and was gone.

Peggy stepped up beside him. "He seems like a solid man," she commented.

"I've had him on retainer for almost seven years now," Tony answered. "He's worth every penny. It's not that often that you find an honest and competent lawyer. Much less one willing to work with the infamous Tony Stark."

A short silence fell, and then Peggy turned away to rummage in the common floor kitchen before she reappeared with some finger foods. "Sit down, Tony. Come eat with me," she demanded, and Tony didn't bother resisting.

They spent the next half hour snacking and relaxing. Tony had wanted to retreat to his workshop, but every time Peggy had pre-empted him and insisted he stay put.

The reason for that became clear when Bucky and James stepped off the elevator. Bucky made a relieved sound and his shoulders came down. Tony watched the tension slough off James.

Without a word, Bucky strode over to him and hauled him into a kiss that Tony was very definitely willing to give him. There was more than a little bit of enthusiasm in the touch, on both their parts, prompting Tony to drag Bucky closer, plastering his boyfriend to the length of his torso and letting his hands wander down to wrap around handfuls of Bucky's ass. The move got him a very pleased groan, and he heard James made a slightly strangled sound of surprise. Dismissing that as unimportant at the moment, Tony happily gave Bucky what he wanted, deepening the kiss until it was hot and wet and definitely pushing the limits of what was acceptable to do in the common areas.

They stood there, wrapped around one another, until Peggy cleared her throat pointedly. "Boys, there are better times and places for that sort of thing."

Bucky broke the kiss and sighed, leaning his forehead against Tony's. "If we ever have'ta abandon our home again because some bigwig's comin' by unannounced, I'm gonna scream."

James huffed, the sound more amused than anything. "What did he want, anyway?" He asked, wrenching them back on track without hesitation.

"To take our Tony's armour away or force him to play attack dog, from what I can gather," Peggy replied sourly.

Tony nodded. "That's about right. Based on what he said, Ross will be handing the rest of the Avengers similar problems, soon."

The idea got a growl out of James that sent a legit shiver down Tony's spine. Now that James had largely recovered, it was easy to forget that he'd once been the Winter Soldier. Until he did shit like this, anyway.

"Down boy," Tony joked, stepping away from Bucky and taking his boyfriend's hand instead. "The law team's on it, so now our job is to wait things out a bit."

James glared at him, and Tony wanted to flinch at the banked rage he could see simmering in James' expression. "Ross is a threat -- to all of us -- and I don't like that. It's never the right call to leave enemies alive at your back."

Peggy laughed at him outright. "James, darling, while I don't disagree with the sentiment, we can't just kill the man in cold blood. While that might get rid of him, it wouldn't solve the problem, and since Tony's already working the legal and political angles, we're doing what we can for the moment."

James muttered something that Tony didn't catch, then took a deep breath. "And what else are you planning? Sitting around while under threat isn't my style. Or yours."

The man had a point. Tony shrugged. "We hadn't decided yet, but this surprise visit of Ross' made one thing very clear."

"What's that?" Bucky prompted him.

"We need to go public about James' presence here," Tony said simply, then added, "Maybe not tomorrow or even next week, but as soon as he's ready."

Peggy nodded, looking thoughtful, but James was about to balk, Tony could see it in the way his good shoulder hunched and his stance widened.

Bucky merely looked a bit skeptical, so Tony addressed his next words to his boyfriend. "It's not like our enemies don't have a good idea that he's here. Look at it this way. He was on the run from them and pretty much everyone else in the world for about two and a half years, and the last HYDRA knew he was in the wind and taking out his past handlers. He stopped doing that almost a year ago but hasn't turned up anywhere since then, which means he has to either be with me, with Steve, or hiding out on his own somewhere. Tactically it makes no sense not to link up with allies if you can, so odds are good they've assumed he's not out on his own, and if the Widow was good enough to spot him, there's a chance someone else might have as well."

That got Bucky nodding slowly. "That makes sense as far as it goes, but that doesn't explain why he'd need to go public."

"True," Peggy added. "I'm not sure I see the connection, myself."

"It's more of a defensive move than anything," Tony explained, realising that public relations image management hadn't really been a thing for anyone but royalty and Hollywood when they'd come from, and that he hadn't really done overly much with his own media presence since their arrival. "If no one knows he's here other than his enemies, it makes it harder for us -- well, me, really -- to make a fuss if they try to take him away on whatever legal grounds. And they could try. In some ways it's surprising that they haven't yet, actually, considering that it's been almost two months since he came here. That'd be ample time for someone to sniff him out and put together some kind of legal measure to try to pry him out of the Tower. To the best of my knowledge there are still warrants out for his arrest in multiple countries. If we go public with his presence and get someone credible -- meaning not me or one of the team, we're too biased -- to explain that he was very much under duress while HYDRA had him captive but is doing better now, that gives us a hell of a leg up on dealing with those warrants and preventing any further attempts to arrest him. There's plenty of precedent for the rehabilitation of POWs, so we should have a fairly solid legal defense on that count, if it comes to that."

A shudder went through James that looked almost painful. "I'll think it over."

"FRIDAY? Put together a primer on media and image management for these three, would you?" Tony requested, accepting that James needed to mull all this over. "Whatever happens, you know I'm in your corner, James, and that means all I have access to. Money, lawyers, influence, whatever. I'll fly you somewhere that doesn't have extradition to the US, if that's what it damned well takes, but I'd rather head that problem off at the pass, if possible." 

"Sensible," Peggy approved. "But that's a problem for some other day. For now, we're going to order in something to eat and watch a film. There's been more than enough strategising and emotional talk for one day."

Bucky grinned at her, relaxing a bit further. "That's the best plan I've heard so far today."

They made it through their dinner -- burgers and shakes, because Tony decided he damned well wanted comfort food after the day he'd had -- and half of the movie before Steve called, interrupting them.

Tony took the call on speaker phone, having FRIDAY pipe it through to the media room. "Hey Cap, what's going on?"

"Tony," Steve responded, sounding stressed and tired, "I'm going to assume, based on the warning you sent us, that you have some kind of idea in place for how to deal with Ross. Natasha says you've tangled with him before."

Bucky jumped in before Tony could answer. "Tony's lawyers are on the job. Let them try to blow some holes in Ross' ship before you jump aboard to finish him off. None of the shit you pulled trying to get James back home. We don't need you running off to Washington to storm the Capitol building or whatever. Sit your ass down and wait a bit. Come take Peggy out on the town or something if you need a distraction. Tony's better at that game than you are, so you better listen to him."

"So you both got back okay. Good," Steve responded instead of replying to the commentary on Tony's actions so far.

"We did," James acknowledged. "Ross try to take control of the whole team and not just Iron Man?"

"He did." Steve sounded angry and tired. "We can't let him win."

"It'll take a few days at minimum for my lawyers to read through that pile of paper Ross threw at me, and tell me what our possible options are if we want to fight it," Tony told Steve, knowing he probably sounded just as weary and angry. "Sit back and take a load off while you wait."

Peggy took over the conversation with Steve, then, standing and asking FRIDAY to transfer the call to her suite. Tony watched her go with a fond smirk tugging at his lips and made a note to suggest she introduce Steve to the joys of phone sex, if she hadn't already.

Bucky made an amused sound and tucked Tony in close to his side as the movie started playing again. Eventually, James relaxed fully into the sofa's embrace, and the three of them managed to actually enjoy the ending of the _Return of the King_.

When the screen went dark, James broke the silence he'd let fall after the phone call with Steve. "Tony?"

Half asleep, Tony didn't bother to do more than cuddle closer to Bucky and lazily let his hand flop over toward James. "Hmm?"

"If I do go public," he said, speaking slowly and deliberately to give his words more weight, "I want a new arm."

That woke him up. Tony peeled himself gently free of his boyfriend, so he could sit up. "That can be arranged. What specs do you want it to have? Same as this one?"

James shook his head. "Lighter weight so it doesn't pull me off balance, more efficient neural connection so it doesn't lose signal at the wrong moment, and not chromed, so I have a better chance of hiding it," he listed. "It's got some more detailed problems, too, but we'll talk those over once you've got the prototype built and tested."

Bucky nodded. "That's a smart move," he put in, approving and warm. "Would be, even if you weren't potentially going public."

"FRIDAY, give me a mock-up--" 

"Tomorrow, Tony," James cut him off, chuckling. "We all need to sleep."

"Sleep is for the weak and those who don't have engineering problems to solve," Tony declared.

"I don't think so," Bucky disagreed, "you're coming to bed. I need to get my hands on you."

"Oh, that kind of sleep," Tony decided the arm could indeed wait a few hours. "Why didn't you say so?"

James shoved at his shoulder. "Get out of here," he grumbled, trying to sound annoyed.

Tony could hear the fondness underneath. "Yeah, yeah," he answered, getting to his feet and pulling Bucky after him. "Meet me in the 'shop in the morning. We'll talk."

Bucky didn't bother saying anything. He caught James' eyes, gave him a nod, then all but hauled Tony out of the room over one shoulder. Tony allowed it, laughing.

They both enjoyed what followed. Tony let himself revel in the touches and sounds he wrung out of his boyfriend as they wore each other out. For all that they'd been apart for all of a few hours, it had felt more like days, and they were correspondingly enthusiastic in their reunion. The cuddling had been great, but this was better. Tony took his time getting Bucky off, teasing until his lover could take no more and flipped them to pin Tony to the mattress and simply take what he wanted. By the time they'd both come, their spendings mingling on Tony's skin, Bucky had been wild-eyed and shaking. Tony hadn't been doing much better.

They'd fallen asleep right then and there, not bothering to clean themselves up and knowing they'd regret that in the morning, but not giving a shit.


	2. Chapter 2

When they woke, they stumbled into the shower together, and took their time cleaning each other up, then dressing. Bucky followed him down to the common floor for breakfast, where they found Peggy and James already seated in the kitchen with tea and coffee.

The conversation just washed over Tony without making much of an impression, until James caught his eyes as they were putting their things into the dishwasher. "How is this going to go?" He asked, not specifying what he meant, and not needing to, either.

Tony shrugged. "You're coming down to the 'shop, we're going to hash out the exact specifications of your new arm, and then you're going to keep yourself amused somehow until I've got the prototype assembled. It's probably going to take a while, since I don't know enough about the guts inside that thing HYDRA bolted to your shoulder."

James nodded. "They didn't tell me much either, but I figured out some things."

"Good. That'll make this easier on both of us," Tony told him. "Need a minute? Or do you want to start now?"

The question earned Tony a shrug. "Let's go," James said.

Peggy interjected, "Does this mean you're going to go public, James?"

"I--" James hesitated. "I'm not sure yet, but having a new arm will be good, regardless."

"Better get started, then," Bucky prodded them both into motion.

"We'll turn you into the modern million dollar man," he told James, and sauntered over to drop a chaste peck of a kiss on Bucky's lips before he headed for the elevator with James at his heels, gratifyingly eager to see what Tony would come up with.

It took them all of five minutes to get settled in as Tony warmed up his design interface, and then they were off. When Tony requested it, James stripped off his shirt without hesitation, and FRIDAY happily took James' measurements for both the natural arm and the bionic one

The metal arm was slightly larger in all dimensions than the organic one, as Tony found out, and made more or less of solid chrome steel. The size had likely been dictated by the size of the components available when it had been built, and considering that that had been sometime during the late 40s or early 50s, it was amazing that the arm was as compact and failure resistant as it was.

FRIDAY, though not as prompt and well-trained as JARVIS had been, managed to anticipate him in time to project a representation of James' current arm before he asked for it.

Tony didn't hesitate; he reached for the hologram, opened it up, and gutted it entirely before he turned to James and caught his eyes. "You wanted it lighter, so unless you have objections you're getting an impact resistant carbon fibre composite[1] for the shell, which can be covered with a skin analogue I developed for use in sex toys if you want a less metallic feel[2]." 

"Sex toys? Really?" James said mildly. "You comparing me to a sex toy?"

Tony shrugged. "I regularly have sex with a guy who could be your twin. I think he's smoking hot. You are too, by that definition. I do, however, insist on consent. If you'd like to have skin that feels realistic because it was designed to go in areas with lots of nerve endings? By all means. I can provide. If not, that's your call."

He could see James chew on that series of statements for a couple of seconds, and then also the moment he made his decision. "Got a sample of that skin somewhere?"

"Dunno. Do we, FRI?" Tony spun his chair until he was facing his fabricators, and kicked off his desk, sending himself gliding across the shop floor.

"I believe there is a small swatch available in the third drawer from the top of the chest on yer right, Boss," she answered.

It took him under ten seconds to find it, and wipe the thin layer of dust off it. James, who'd followed him over, plucked it deftly out of his hand and turned it over, running it over his fingertips, then his palm, and his face. "Not bad," he quipped. "This need any kind of special care?"

Tony shook his head. "Clean with warm water and soap, nothing abrasive. If it tears in a fight or whatever else, it's easy enough to remove from the arm and replace."

"Okay, put it on the arm," James nodded. "Be nice not to have to keep cleaning out the plating all the time."

Practical, as always. Tony made sure to keep his mind off the _other_ potential uses James might find for his arm, once it was fabricated and coated. "FRIDAY, my darling, put in the requisite orders, please. We should have enough to coat the prototype, but we'll need to make more for the final version of James' new arm."

That left one more big question. Well, two. Tony felt the smile slip off his face to be replaced with a more serious expression. "I know this is an uncomfortable question, but I need to ask it: how does that arm come off?"

"I'm not sure?" James said, his voice wavering just enough that Tony heard it, then cleared his throat. "They knocked me out anytime they wanted to mess with it, so that I wouldn't tear the technicians limb from limb. If they ever took it off entirely, I don't know about it. I don't even know if it does come off."

Well, that presented a quandary. If there was no modularity, he would have to literally dismantle the whole thing piece by piece to get it off of James, and that was likely to be both drawn out and painful.

Considering that for a beat, Tony nodded. "You okay with letting me dig around inside it now? I'll also need to get a handle on how the thing interfaces with your nerves, anyway, unless you can tell me about that."

James shook his head. "No idea. I'm a sniper and a reasonably good mêlée fighter, not a doctor or an engineer. What does you 'digging around' require?"

"It requires that you not attack me," Tony said drily. "Not that I expect that's likely to be a problem. If you start feeling like you need air or space or whatever, you tell me. Take that as a command, if you need to."

"I hear you," James agreed. "Anything else?"

"Same applies to pain signals," Tony told him firmly. "FRIDAY and I are going to map out the inside of this thing, and having that information could be very important to working out how to connect the new arm to you. Or at least knowing what not to do."

James steadied himself as best he could with a couple of deep breaths. "Where are we doing this?"

"We're not doing this until you're ready," Tony retorted. "I'm not looking to get punched. But whenever you’re ready, we’ll do it here."

A bit more of the tension left James' shoulders to be replaced with exasperation. "I'm not gonna punch you," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Good, let's keep it that way. Head over to my workbench, then, and relax." Tony rolled his chair back across the shop to where FRIDAY had updated the holographic representation of the new arm to reflect the new materials that it would be made of, and the layer of synthetic skin that would be applied. It was just ready and waiting for the hydraulic servomechanisms[3], skeleton and wiring to be added.

Tony reached out for it and shoved it to the side. "Let's start with the arm as it is now, FRI," he suggested. "We'll deal with the update once we've mapped out the components and their functions."

"Yes, sir, Boss," she accepted that cheerfully. "If ye would stand with both arms relaxed and then out at shoulder height, James?"

James looked bemused, evidently not sure why that was needed, but obeyed. "Like this?"

The holographic interface updated with an image of James' current arm and Tony nodded. "Good enough. Ready to see inside your arm?"

"As I'll ever be," James muttered, then settled himself on a chair such that he could drape his arm across Tony's workbench.

Tony didn't touch it. Not yet. He knew better than that. Instead, he took his time assembling the tools he thought he might need for the job, then caught James' attention once more. "How does it open?"

"There are three panels that have to be flipped up and locked into place along the forearm. Once they're locked in place, it should just open up along a hinge that runs along the outside of the arm," James answered. "Found that out by accident one day when I was cleaning the plates."

"Open it up for me, then?" Tony requested, still making no move to touch James.

With a shudder, James did it, then swallowed hard and looked away. "I know it's fine, but seeing my arm laid open like that is just _wrong_."

Tony dared put a hand on James' knee, that time, and the other man took a hitching breath that seemed to get stuck in his throat before it did what it was supposed to. When they made eye contact, Tony offered him a half smile. "I'm familiar with what that's like."

He touched the raised scars covering his chest with his other hand, and tried not to let memories of the events that had led to him having the arc reactor come boiling back up out of their box. "Until about a year ago, I had an electromagnet the size of my fist crammed into my ribcage. Taking it out of the socket to replace the power source," Tony swallowed hard, fighting not to remember Obie taking it out by force, "well, that wasn't a fun time."

James hesitated, then asked, "Afghanistan?"

"Yeah," Tony confirmed, then picked up one of his screwdrivers and used it to point at one of FRIDAY's cameras. "You got the visible components?"

"Scanned and incorporated," his AI confirmed, and James' eyes slid shut in what looked like relief.

Tony gave him a moment, then asked, "Does the upper arm open the same way?"

James nodded, his eyes staying closed.

Tony watched him carefully for a couple of breaths before he asked, "Does anything hurt?"

James shook his head, but that time he also answered verbally. "No."

"Good." Tony reached for the plating and gently searched for, then locked open the three plates that latched the upper arm closed, so that he could have Friday scan that part of the prosthetic, as well. "FRI?"

"On it, Boss," she acknowledged, and the rest of the holographic representation filled in. Tony waited until she was through, then started gently moving wires until he could see the connections of the arm and the base. It was a distinct relief to see that the arm had indeed been designed to be removed as one piece, if that became necessary. It was not at all clear on first glance which ones were the neural connections, though, and that was troubling.

He let go of the wiring, settling it carefully back into place and peering at James' face, looking for any lines or tension that might signal pain that James wasn't telling him about. He saw none, though, so he closed up the arm and waited for James to react.

After a couple of very still seconds, he cleared his throat. "James?"

James startled, and Tony raised an eyebrow at him, getting a hint of a blush in response. "Yeah? What is it?"

"I've got what I needed for now. Once FRIDAY and I know which of these components controls what -- which shouldn't take long -- we'll start planning the prototype, and then we'll have to figure out the neural interface. I'll need to know which connections they are and have an idea how they work, so that I can make sure the signals you send are correctly interpreted. I'm sure you could adapt to whatever I design, but the goal here isn't to make you relearn how to move your fingers."

The look James gave him was somewhere between amused and pleased. "I wouldn't care even if I did. You'd probably do a better job than whatever hack came up with this."

"Maybe so," Tony replied. "But you have to remember: for its time, that arm was cutting edge tech, and I'm stuck reverse engineering it from scratch. And I can't do anything about the part of it that's bolted into your skeleton. I'm no medical doctor."

"Tony, you're forgetting one very crucial thing," James told him.

He wasn't sure whether he should take the very obvious bait, but he wanted to know. Tony watched James for a moment before he asked, "What's that?"

"You care." James gave him a nod. "Now, I'm going back upstairs for a while unless you need me here for what you're going to do next." Tony shook his head, so James went on. "If you're not out of here in half an hour, I'm sending Bucky in after you."

"But--"

"No arguments," James cut him off. "Peggy wants to try some new cuisine. Ugandan."

With a huff, Tony gave in. He knew better than to try to defy James and Peggy. "Fine. But it better be good," he grumbled. "I'm trying to revolutionise science again, here."

James made no verbal reply; simply smirked and sauntered back out of the workshop. Tony watched him go, so like his lover and yet so different, then went back to working with FRIDAY to decipher the mechanics and neural interface.

The servomechanisms were easy; meant to keep the joints in the arm from moving the wong way, they showed up in the expected places near the hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. He logged them and had FRIDAY fade them out of the hologram. The wiring connecting those to the interface in the shoulder, now, those were the interesting part.

There were a few components between the servos and the shoulder that resembled modern integrated circuits, though they were far cruder and less efficient. Tony could see that just by looking at them. It was like looking at a computer built with vacuum tubes and comparing it to one that incorporated transistors.

What the custom components did was unclear. It was obvious that they were interpreting the signals coming from James' brain and translating them into movement of the correct motors. How they did that, though, Tony wasn't entirely sure yet. That kind of hardware also required some software, even if it was very low level. There had to be some way to interpret the electrical signals James' brain sent. 

"FRIDAY, let James know that I'll have to take a closer look at these little control boxes before I can build his prototype," he requested, and settled in to trace out which wires went where with his AI's help.

An indeterminate amount of time later, Bucky's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Tony? Doll?"

Shaking his head to clear it, he looked up. His boyfriend's voice was tentative and soft, and that was somewhat unusual. "Bucky? Something wrong?"

His boyfriend closed the last couple of feet between them and pulled him in for a quick peck of a kiss. "Nah, I just didn't wanna interrupt somethin' delicate."

"You're not," Tony told him. "This part of the design work is reverse engineering what's already been done so I can take it apart later and redo it better."

"Come up and have a bite to eat with us, then," Bucky demanded, wrapping his arms around Tony's waist and walking backwards toward the exit of the workshop, forcing Tony to go with him.

Their meal, as promised, was waiting for them when they stepped back out of the elevator car. James looked up and gave him an approving look. "Come join us," he said simply. "Peggy needed to freshen up a little."

Tony let Bucky steer him over to the loveseat opposite James and the spread on the coffee table, then shamelessly arranged himself so that he could lean against his boyfriend, all but sitting in Bucky's lap. Might as well enjoy his enforced lunch break, after all.

James watched him for a moment, then said, "FRIDAY told me you wanted another go at my arm."

"I need to have a closer look at some of the control circuitry," Tony confirmed. "I want to pop one out, x-ray it so I can see inside it without breaking it, and then put it back."

James swallowed, but didn't freak out. "When? And how long will that take?"

"Your part will take about five minutes," Tony told him as Peggy came back into the room, looking pristine as always. "Once I have those images I should be set until it's time to deal with the neural interface and take the arm off."

Peggy looked pleased. "I take it you've made good progress, then."

"With a bit of luck, I'll be able to start making the parts for the prototype tonight and James will be able to test it out tomorrow night," Tony replied, pleased when that made Peggy look impressed.

The conversation veered off into small talk after that, and Tony focused mostly on his meal. As soon as he took the first bite, his stomach reminded him that it was quite empty, and he found himself stuffing himself full. The food was excellent, vegetables and succulent chicken and soft bread, and it went down easily.

After they finished eating, the conversation petered out for a few seconds, then James nodded to himself. "We'll do the x-ray thing now."

Tony watched him for a moment, then stood. "Alright."

Bucky followed them down to the workshop, this time, and, tellingly, James didn't object. Tony suspected that James was more off balance than he wanted to admit to any of them, including himself. Actually removing the arm -- Tony made a note to have a closer look at the interface between the arm and shoulder mount once he'd worked out the control circuitry -- was likely to upset James a fair bit.

The elevator doors slid open and Tony shook off the thoughts to stride back over to his workbench, projecting confidence as best he knew how. "Just like before, James," he suggested. "That okay?"

He got a nod, and then James settled himself back on the same chair he'd occupied a few hours ago. "Let's get this done so you can make me a better one."

Tony paused for a beat, then reached out slowly to open the arm back up, like he had before. He gave James plenty of warning and made sure not to make any sudden moves.

Bucky eyed him with a thoughtful look, then stepped over to James and caught his doppelganger's attention. "James," he said, offering a distraction so that James could think about more pleasant things, "tell me about what you plan to do with your new arm once you have it."

That got James to make a slightly strangled sound that approximated a squeak, and Tony looked up in time to see him go pink. He chuckled. "Buck, he asked for the skin, I think it's safe to assume he wants to spend some time enjoying himself without having to clean come out of the plates of his hand."

James went pinker and stuttered something that obliquely approached coherent, hiding behind his other hand as best he could.

Bucky raised an eyebrow at Tony, then said mildly, "What was that you told me not long after we got together? 'Don't kinkshame'?"

"Oh, I'm not," Tony told his boyfriend, blithely ignoring James' groan of embarrassment as he took advantage of the extremely effective diversion Bucky had manufactured, albeit by accident, and quickly worked to reach the part of the arm's circuitry that he wanted a closer look at. "Mostly I'm wondering why you never told me you had these kinks. I'd be happy to explore them with you."

"Well, that's not one of my kinks," Bucky shot back, "but if it's something you're into, we can talk."

James finally raised his head. "You two can discuss that on your own time," he gritted out. "How I-- How I choose to take care of myself is my business, not yours. And I definitely don't need to know what you two do behind closed doors."

With a chuckle, Tony went back to doing what they'd come down here to do. "Right. I'm going to pop this out for a minute, then. Ready?"

"Just get it over with," James said, and Bucky put a hand on James' good shoulder.

"You won't be able to move your hand while this it out, but I need it for literally about sixty seconds, and then I can put it back in. FRIDAY? Take a scan of it _in situ_ for me, first."

"Done, Boss," she said and Tony set to work gently loosening the screws that held the device in place. It was about an inch and a half square, and half as high, and had two screws keeping it secured. Tony popped those out, dropped them on the magnetic strip at the side of his workbench, and disconnected the four wires that attached to the component.

He left Bucky to keep James from freaking out and crossed the workshop to let FRIDAY take the images he wanted. As he'd promised, the x-rays, done in a shielded box with leaded glass windows, took under a minute to complete, and then he was deftly slotting everything back into place and closing up James' arm.

A shudder ran down James' spine when everything was sealed back up, and he relaxed, tension seeming to run out of him like water out of a leaky barrel. "Got what you needed?" He asked, his voice slightly raspy.

Tony glanced over to where FRIDAY was overlaying the three dimensional x-rays on a holographic representation of the device. "Yeah, don't worry. And you're doing great, but if we can help somehow..."

He let the words trail off, knowing James would hear the implied offer.

"Doubt you can help with this," James muttered a bit mulishly, "but thanks."

"Offer stands," Bucky added. "You know we joke around about the sexual shit an' we're really open about it, but if you need, I dunno, to be held? We can do that."

Tony nodded. "We can, and we don't mind doing it, either, so don't go feeling guilty about it or worrying you'll get in our way or whatever. You and Bucky might as well be the same person, in some ways. Which is kind of weird and makes me question reality sometimes, but that also means you're important to me. If you want a hug, that's fair game."

James looked back and forth between them a couple of times, nodded shortly, and left the workshop.

Bucky took the opportunity to turn to him and catch his eye. "We might have to talk that offer through some more, before he takes us up on it," he said, "but I don't mind that we made it. You're right; in some ways he _is_ me."

"Well," Tony considered that for half a minute that he was sure felt more like an hour to Bucky. "We offered him cuddles. You're implying you might want to offer him more."

"I--" Bucky went a little pink. "I didn't mean that, but now that you bring it up..."

"Then you gotta set some boundaries. I've been in a fair number of threesomes, but this is different," Tony told him. "If I learned one thing from dating Pepper, it's that not everyone can share like that. She couldn't."

"Look at you, bein' all smart about this," Bucky said approvingly as he nodded slowly. "I never tried to share like that before."

"Then we should stick to cuddles until you've had time to think this through more. We kinda spontaneously offered him this and that's not something to just jump into, but we've got the leeway to hammer out the details." Tony reached out and caught Bucky's hand.

Bucky twined their fingers together and let his head hang for a moment before he straightened and squared his shoulders. "Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right. But we'll talk more about this later. For now you've got an arm to build and the team's comin' by to hang out for a couple'a hours. Apparently, I've got to defend my honor as the best sniper in the state."

Tony huffed at him, amused. "Barton's visiting?"

"Some asshole with a bow, yeah," Bucky smirked. "Pretty sure I can wipe the floor with him."

"Don't be too sure of that," Tony shot back, shaking his head. "Alright, go have fun. Let me know if you need anything."

Acknowledging that with a nod, Bucky dropped a kiss on his forehead and left him to it.

Settling back in to tear apart the functions of that component -- he was sure it had to be custom now that he had the device's layout to look at -- Tony eventually identified it as a primitive sort of multiplexer[4]. 

After that, the whole setup started making more sense. The purpose of a multiplexer was to select one signal out of several that were coming from the same input. Based on that, Tony suspected that the arm had a single input containing multiple channels that likely came from different nerves in the remaining organic portions of James' shoulder.

He'd have to wait to confirm that until he removed the arm, but Tony was fairly confident that he was right. And even if he wasn't, a design for a new arm that operated based on a similar principle would be fairly straightforward to adapt.

With the basic concept he wanted to use fixed in his mind, Tony reached for the holographic plan for the new prototype that he'd shoved aside so much earlier that day, and started laying groundwork. First, he took advantage of the things he'd learned about how his own arms moved, as he'd designed his armour. There were several hinges and pivot points -- those at the shoulder, elbow and wrist, mainly -- that needed to be designed in right from the start, so those got sketched in first, along with the framework that he'd be using. They'd have to be fabricated out of the same materials used for the impact resistant shell of the arm. The framework, an entirely different design to the one he had in his armour, would hold the wiring and keep it organised -- and keep it from getting pinched in the outer carbon fibre plates. The framework would be anchored at James' shoulder, and therefore have to be as robust as possible.

And that just left the servos and wiring before he could start the initial fabrication. The servos were easy. Tony dropped in one for each degree of freedom needed at each joint and then added wiring to connect each one to the correct pins of the (much smaller, more efficient, more modern) multiplexer he planned to mount near James' shoulder.

And then, what seemed like far too quickly after how much time he'd poured into reverse engineering the arm, he had a first draft of the plans and FRIDAY had run the simulations designed to check that all the wires were connected to the correct components. He was pleased when they checked out.

There was a fair amount of empty space in the arm, now that the components that would be used were so much smaller than they were in the version James was wearing. It was tempting to design in some goodies, but he decided he'd hold off until James had tested the prototype and they'd done any fine tuning.

"Start the machining and assembly, FRI," he requested, and got to his feet to stretch.

"Will do, Boss," she replied. "I'll have your parts ready for ye in the morning. In the meantime, I'd recommend something to eat and some rest."

Tony turned and headed for the elevator. "Not hungry right now. Take me to my boyfriend."

He was pretty sure FRIDAY couldn't decide whether she approved of his decision to find Bucky or disapproved of his decision to put off eating. Either way, though, the elevator car slid smoothly into movement, and FRIDAY kept silent.

When the elevator doors opened, though, its usual ping muted, the sight that met his eyes made Tony wonder what he'd missed out on. The common floor living room was covered in sleeping Avengers, and Bucky had ended up wrapped bodily around James, who was the only one awake to see him appear. He made a note to ask Bucky later. It was probably totally innocent -- everyone was still fully dressed and no one looked all that mussed -- but the way they were all wrapped around one another was rather suggestive.

James didn't say a word, but held out his right hand to Tony, inviting him in. There was no obvious spot open for him, but Tony had no doubt that James would make one, if need be. It looked like he'd decided to take Bucky up on the cuddles they'd offered and the rest of the team had collectively decided that was a fantastic plan. Steve was sprawled out over the loveseat, his legs hanging over the end of it, with Peggy draped over him, and Wanda was curled up with the Vision in the lone armchair. Wilson was passed out more or less in a seated position, sitting against the sofa with Natasha's head and shoulders in his lap.

Tony considered that. The team trusted James and Bucky enough to let themselves sleep in the same room as the pair of them -- though on reflection he doubted Natasha was asleep, she was probably pretending to be, much like James had been until he turned up -- but did he? Could he sleep there, knowing that Wanda and Natasha and Steve were present?

James and Bucky and Peggy had his back. He trusted in that.

Just as James' expression was starting to shutter, as he decided Tony was going to refuse, Tony finally managed to make a decision. Without a word, he quietly made his way to the sofa James and Bucky had claimed, and took James' hand.

The move got him a hesitant smile, and James tugged him down to join them.

Tony resisted briefly; he wanted his shoes and belt off, if he was going to nap. James allowed it, and Tony was pretty sure he spotted a smile in James' eyes though it didn't quite reach his lips.

Bucky mumbled something indistinct when James decided Tony needed to be settled between the pair of them, then settled again, his arms going around Tony automatically, and his nose finding its accustomed spot behind Tony's ear. When he was securely tucked against his lover's front, Bucky's protective instincts prompting him to very literally cover Tony's back when they slept, James moved closer, an inch at a time, until he was half tucked against Tony's chest.

James watched him for a minute or so, his eyes slitted mostly closed, then dared to run his hand up Tony's flank and Bucky's arm before he settled in to keep watch.

Or, at least, that was what Tony thought James was doing.

Comfortable and better protected than he could ever remember being for a cuddle and a nap, Tony let his eyes close. He could try to figure James out later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Wheeeee research papers: For the scientifically inclined, here is a reference I used for writing this, and designing the new prototype arm. [Impact response of tough carbon fibre composites](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/026382238990069X). In short, they made the toughened carbon fibre composites I took advantage of and tested them to see when and how they would break. Click here to return to text.
> 
> [2] These embedded sensors are a real thing developed by MIT and because it's fitting I'm taking the liberty of adding Tony to this paper's authors for the purposes of this fic. Click the link to read about [Artificial Skin That Senses, and Stretches, Like the Real Thing](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/533106/artificial-skin-that-senses-and-stretches-like-the-real-thing/). 
> 
> For James' arm, this gets combined with a more wear-resistant silicone and Kevlar layer that's designed to protect the sensitive electronics. It muffles the tactile feedback somewhat, but that doesn't matter to James at all. Click here to return to text.
> 
> [3] A servomechanism is a thing that gives feedback about stuff like position and direction so that things don't move in ways they shouldn't. More (rather technical) information on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servomechanism). Click here to return to text.
> 
> [4] A multiplexer is a real circuit component that legit does select from a bunch of different inputs. More detail available on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplexer). Click here to return to text.


	3. Chapter 3

When he woke, he and Bucky were alone on the sofa and most of the team had vanished as well. Only Steve and Peggy hadn't left the room.

Steve, when he noticed Tony's eyes were open, gave him a shy smile, and resettled Peggy a little more comfortably. She sighed, contented, and didn't budge from her spot. "Must we get up?" Peggy asked him quietly.

"No, but you'll be a lot more comfortable continuing this in a bed," Steve answered in kind.

He seemed a lot more relaxed than he had been over the phone, and Tony rather suspected that was on account of the fact that he had his hands on Peggy and she had hers on him.

Bucky chimed in, "I don't wanna move either, but somethin' tells me your stomach'll be demanding we fill it soon, Steve."

Peggy made an amused sound. "You may well be right, Bucky," she agreed. "You may well be right. But until then, I don't intend to move."

Natasha re-entered the room in time to catch the end of that sentence and smirked knowingly. "Does anyone have any updates on our situation?" She asked instead, changing the topic.

FRIDAY replied, "No, Agent Romanov, currently there is nothing new to report. Boss, the parts you wanted are ready and waiting for you in the workshop."

"Coffee and breakfast first, I think," Bucky interjected, and Tony realised they'd slept through the night.

"Coffee sounds fantastic," he said and stretched with a yawn.

They were all quiet as they reluctantly climbed to their feet and shuffled into the common floor kitchen. Steve joined Bucky at the stove, where they worked together to cook whatever they'd wordlessly decided to create, and James appeared, seemingly out of thin air, to sit next to him when Tony slumped down onto a barstool at the breakfast bar.

The meal itself was quiet, most of the conversation between Steve and Peggy, on topics unrelated to the fire they were working to put out. Tony, as soon as he had cleared his plate, stood and dumped it in the dishwasher in favour of going down to his workshop. He had an arm to build, and he was actually kind of looking forward to trying it. It was a new challenge and he thrived on those. 

He dropped a kiss on Bucky's upturned lips and caught James' eyes just before he left the kitchen. "It should be assembled in about an hour. Come on down when you're ready."

Bucky smirked up at him. "Don't worry, we'll keep James from winding himself too tight. Go do your thing."

"Right." Tony eyed him a trifle skeptically, then did the same to Steve. He did trust Bucky, and he was coming to accept Steve again, but both of them were more known for jumping headlong into trouble than keeping things calm. "Peggy, do me a favour and make sure that actually happens? I don't need him jumping at shadows while I'm trying to unbolt that metal monstrosity from his shoulder."

James scoffed at him. "I'd come down to the shop early long before I let them make me that jumpy, Tony," he pointed out.

"Okay, fair." Tony tossed a very sloppy salute over his shoulder. "You know where to find me if the world tries to end. Don't come knocking unless it does."

Bucky laughed. "Fine, I'll wait a couple'a hours before I come distract you," he said agreeably as Tony stepped into the elevator.

The doors slid closed on Steve's bemused expression, Peggy's mild exasperation, and James' grumbling. Tony found it felt oddly like family. Now that he'd more or less forgiven Steve, the tension between them had almost vanished, and that was a distinct relief.

When the shop door opened for him, though, he set those thoughts aside. It was time to build. His main workbench was clear, though. "FRIDAY, my darling girl, where are those parts I was promised?"

"I took the liberty of assembling the inner frame, Boss," she replied, and U trundled out of his corner, offering it in his claw with a chirp.

Tony took it carefully. The carbon fibre was sleek and cool in his hands, and weighed almost nothing, compared to the metals he was used to working with. It felt like he'd picked up a pencil. Or maybe five pencils. "Good boy, U."

The bot perked up, and wheeled back off to do something else.

He put the skeletal hand and arm on his workbench and inspected it, checking the joints and connections. Carbon fibre was strongest in the axial direction rather than the transverse[5], but it tended to fail without warning due to fatigue caused by cyclic loading[6], so if James went around punching things with this arm it could fail mid-fight. That would be potentially lethal to him and therefore had to be prevented. "FRI, what resins do we have stocked? This needs a couple layers of epoxy or urethane."

"Boss, the urethane batch went bad months ago an' ye disposed of it," FRIDAY reminded him. "There's a gallon of fast-curing epoxy resin and thermoset polymer, though.[7]"

Tony shrugged. "If it's good enough for Boeing's aerospace tech, it's good enough for a prototype. Let's do it. We'll coat the inside and outside of the carbon fibre plating as well."

"I'd suggest using the aerosol sprayers for that, Boss. It'll be tough to get an even coat on all those curved surfaces otherwise," FRIDAY said, making him smile brightly. His baby was learning, and starting to anticipate him.

"Sounds like a plan, we'll put on some fresh nozzles and tubing," he decided. "Can you and the bots handle that?"

"Sure thing, Boss. The changeover should be quick, and the resin shouldn't take more than the hour or so ye quoted to James to cure enough to allow the final assembly of the arm."

U and Butterfingers rolled over to him, making their presence known for the first time in a while. They tended to stay away whenever anyone that wasn't him, Rhodey, or Pepper entered the lab. They were slowly warming up to Bucky, he thought, but their experiences with Obie had left some deep scars on them that manifested in their reluctance to just trust new people. James hadn't been around them for long, or frequently, and nor had Peggy.

Dum-E rolled up to peer over his shoulder at the arm sitting on the workbench, then beeped at him, inquisitive.

"Yeah, that's an arm. Should keep our resident cyborg a bit more comfortable than the one he has now."

That got him another questioning sound that he'd associated with 'why' after long years of working together. "Why does he need it? Because I'm almost 100% sure the old one is hurting him and he should have one that's less eye catching if he's gonna go outside."

Dum-E tilted his claw and chirped at him, apparently satisfied with that explanation, then rolled away to help the other two with the paint sprayer. 

It didn't take the trio too long to accomplish the task with FRIDAY running herd on them and keeping them from making any mistakes. Once they were done and had come over to him to announce it, proudly as any kid would have, Tony patted them all then carried the skeletal arm over to put it under the spray arm. It needed to be sealed in resin, as well.

"Coat this for me, FRI, and let me know when it's ready," he said and watched as the doors shut and the automated arms began moving. "I'm going to assemble whatever I can of the framework and wiring, while that dries. We need to machine or build any special circuitry for the attachment point in his shoulder?"

"Based on our scans, the connections used appear to be simple plug and socket connections[8]," his AI told him, "though their diameter might be custom. That was impossible to determine with the arm in place. It might be necessary to cannibalise the ones in his current arm for the time being, until we can fabricate new ones."

"Noted. I'll have a look when we dismantle the thing," he agreed. "Now, where are those frames?"

"They're to yer left, next to the wire spools."

With a nod, Tony grabbed for his soldering iron and settled in to get all of the connections ready that he could while he didn't have the resin-coated skeleton available to anchor the frame to.

Some time later, the skeletal hand startled him by appearing in his peripheral vision. Surprise lending him speed, he flipped the soldering iron around in his hand and thrust it out.

James sprang back, surprise on his own face, then offered him a rueful smirk. "Good reflexes."

Tony dragged in a deep breath, forcing himself to relax and let the adrenaline leave his system again, giving him a glare. "You been taking tips from Barton?"

"No, but you'll need to assemble all the parts of this thing. That means this bit too, and not just the wiring or that fancy skin you're putting on it. FRIDAY said this part was done, so I brought it over." James carefully put it down on the workbench next to the mostly wired frame. "You were very focused."

"Y'were, Boss," FRIDAY chimed in. "But I did ask ye if James could come in an' ye acknowledged."

"Well, you're early enough that it's not ready, obviously," he said, after a beat. "But you can sit somewhere and read or something."

"I'd rather watch you work," James pointed out, and leaned a hip against the edge of the workbench.

"It won't be that interesting, but if you want to, that's fine. It's going to be bolted to you soon enough." Tony turned back to what he was doing and tried to re-center himself. This interruption had shattered his focus entirely; what the fuck had he been-- oh. Right.

Shaking his head, Tony shoved that aside and picked up the skeleton, sliding it into the frame and starting to bolt it in place to the lower half of the forearm, so that he could start mounting the servos and actuators and connecting them. There were twelve attachment points that would connect the skeleton and the protective outer plates that would be added later, arranged in sets of three along the length of the forearm. The four sets of struts were arranged at 120 degree offsets to one another, lending stability and redundancy to the overall structure. It took advantage of some of the same engineering principles that were used in bridges and cranes. Triangles were known to be an extremely durable shape and didn't collapse or crumple easily.[9]

Then, once he was through mounting the servos, he could finally start in on testing the whole thing. It felt like he'd started working on this weeks ago, for all that it had actually been about 36 hours.

When he'd wired up the servos and actuators that would flex and extend the fingers, Tony straightened his back and stretched with a groan.

James hadn't moved from the position he'd picked, but now he looked directly at Tony. "You should take better care of yourself."

Tony raised an eyebrow at him and didn't bother pretending not to know what he meant. "If you know of a way to do this kind of thing that doesn't end in pain and cramps, by all means enlighten me. My bots don't have the dexterity, and the pain is part and parcel of delicate detail work."

He didn't get a verbal answer, but James picked up one of his hands and waited a moment for Tony's reaction -- good or bad -- before he started kneading at it, persuading the muscles to loosen and relax.

Tony couldn't hold back the relieved groan that boiled up out of the pit of his stomach. "You're surprisingly good at that," he commented.

The words got him a self-deprecating half-smile. "Knowing how to cause pain and injury transfers surprisingly easily to easing it."

Not sure how to respond to that, Tony said nothing until James put down that hand. "Thanks," he said simply, as James waited for him to offer the other hand.

James' grip on his hand seemed to linger even after Tony'd taken it back, and he was no fool. He knew what that meant. It meant at least one more long talk with Bucky, and then maybe one with James, depending on the outcome of that discussion. In retrospect, it was kind of a foregone conclusion that he'd catch feelings for the guy that was a different version of his boyfriend. James had shown the same kind of care and honest feeling that Bucky had, once he'd recovered enough, and he'd been showering that attention on Tony. Partly for lack of other convenient targets, it had to be said, but Tony had no doubt that if James hadn't wanted to do it, he wouldn't have.

Swallowing hard, he made himself turn to FRIDAY and wrench himself back on task. James was apparently terrible for his focus. Much like Bucky was. "FRIDAY, darling? How're we doing on those outer plates?"

His AI sounded like she was amused by their awkwardness. "The hand and forearm have cured long enough that installation should pose no problems. I would recommend letting the upper arm plates cure for at least another fifteen minutes."

James looked around the shop, at that, and then perked up when he spotted the plates FRIDAY had meant, neatly arranged on a tray on the far side of the large space, ready and waiting for Tony to pick them up and put them on the arm, as promised.

That level of enthusiasm was kind of cute. Tony caught his eye. "Go on, I know you want to mess with them. They're pretty sturdy. Designed that way."

With a very pleased gleam in his own eyes, James did just that. He didn't appear to hurry at all, but somehow he managed to cross the shop more quickly than Tony had expected, and then he was picking up the plates of the forearm in his good hand, turning them over and running his fingertips over them.

Tony followed him over, and watched him inspect the parts. There were fewer plates than on his current arm, making the new version less prone to error simply because there were fewer moving parts. The intricate assembly of small plates that had been installed on the arm James was currently wearing had the advantage of durability, because they were made of metal, but there were so many of them -- and each articulated separately -- that there was a nonzero risk that one of the many motors needed to move all those plates could fail. And if one of those many little motors failed, all the adjacent plates would also fail, potentially leading to issues with overheating of the components inside the arm.

The carbon fibre and epoxy composite he would be using for the new version eliminated that problem almost entirely. There would be fewer large plates to cut down on the amount of complexity of the arm's workings and the plates wouldn't need to move to vent the arm to maintain a good temperature. That problem had stemmed primarily from the sheer number of components -- mainly the motors -- that had been needed to move all those tiny plates to let air into the arm.

Now that the motors were unnecessary, so was the venting, and Tony could coat the arm in the skin he'd promised without worrying about having to regulate the temperature inside all the time. Most of the electronics would be mounted up near the shoulder joint, and produce much less heat than the old ones had.

When James finally looked up from his detailed inspection, he nodded approvingly. "How long will it take until the arm is done?"

"FRI? I thought we were on schedule. Aren't we?"

"A little ahead of, Boss. James came down to visit quite early on rather than waiting."

"I wanted to see it?" James offered, sounding a little bit embarrassed.

"And now you have," Tony decided, then picked up the tray and took it over to the workbench he'd been using for the wiring. "Not too much left to do, now, but I'll have to have a close look at the connections between your arm and shoulder before I can finish it all the way."

Seating himself back at the workbench and starting to install the composite panels, Tony just left that statement hanging in the air. James would either respond or ignore it until he had to confront it head on, and it didn't much matter which option he went with.

Tony simply worked in silence until James spoke, snapping the finger panels into place, and then the palm and the back of the hand and the wrist. When he started in on the forearm, James took a hitching breath.

"I don't like the idea, but I know it's necessary," he said, sounding tense, and ran his good hand through his hair.

"Would it be easier if I removed the arm entirely?" Tony asked without looking up.

There was another long pause before James answered. "I-- Maybe. It'll have to come off so the new one can go on, anyway."

Tony nodded. "Same MO as the first time we opened it up. You tell me if something bothers you, and you don't wait. If you need a distraction, we can call Bucky in here. Or Steve."

James shook his head. "Not Steve. He would be upset by it."

"Okay, not Steve, but my point stands." Tony continued assembling the remaining parts that were ready. "How're we doing on those upper arm plates, FRIDAY?" 

"They haven't quite cured yet, Boss," she responded, "but the multiplexer chip and heatsink are ready and need to be mounted before ye put on the last plates."

"In that case I'll do that and have a look at those sensory connections if James will let me," Tony decided. "By the time that's done, they'll be ready and then we can make a decision about mounting the new arm." He turned to James. "It won't have the skin on it yet if we do that, but I doubt that'll be a deal breaker."

James' jaw worked for a moment. "It won't be. Put in that chip, and we'll talk."

Well aware that this would be difficult for James, even with the chance to mentally prepare himself, Tony didn't protest that. The chip and heatsink were within arm's reach, and installing them was quick work. All it took was a socket, the chip itself, a bit of thermal paste on top and then the aluminium heat sink, and then that was done. He looked up to find James watching him curiously, and reached for the upper arm plates that he'd brought over.

"You're probably going to overcompensate for a couple of days," he said, in lieu of commenting on the lingering tension hidden in the lines around James' eyes and the set of his shoulders.

The statement got him a slightly puzzled look. "Yeah? It's a lot lighter, but why-- oh, not the arm, the rest of me."

Tony nodded. "Your balance will be a little off at first and you'll have to relearn that, too. You've been doing the equivalent of carrying around a ten or twenty kilo weight on your left side for decades. Your muscles and bones, and probably your posture, have definitely changed to compensate for that. You probably don't even feel it anymore."

"Ten or twenty kilos is nothing to the serum," he pointed out, pulling over a chair and sitting down, "but that's possible. I'll keep it in mind."

Tony eyed him up and down once, then reached for the arm carefully. James would tell him if something was wrong, had promised he would, and James kept his promises. "Well, in comparison to what you have now, this will be extremely lightweight, so don't go making any sudden moves until you're used to it," he said and started slowly opening up the releases on the forearm.

James swallowed hard and turned to look away, staring fixedly at the far side of the shop, where the bots were hanging out near their charging stations and clumsily attempting to play some sort of game with each other, as Tony worked his way up to the upper arm and started opening that up as well.

"You never told me about those three," he said after fifteen seconds or so had crawled past and Tony had started very carefully investigating the neural connection. "What are they?"

Tony glanced over his shoulder at them then turned back to what he was doing. "Huh? Oh, the bots? They help me out around the shop, clean up messes, change out parts and stuff. They tend not to like strangers. You okay if I unplug the arm from you to check the connector? Near as I can tell there's no sensory feedback built into this thing, but I don't want to make any assumptions."

"No, I-- It tells me when there's damage, but it doesn't do much else," James answered, continuing to stare at the bots. "Are they... playing catch?"

"Attempting to, probably," Tony quipped. "Their spatial awareness is good, but they're not very nimble. Alright, I'm going to unplug you now. Tell me if anything weird happens."

James nodded and closed his eyes tightly. 

Tony took hold of the jack and gently tugged at it, surprised when there was little resistance. It came loose easily, and FRIDAY, apparently poised and just waiting for it to come into view, almost immediately put in, "Looks like a standard phone jack of the era, Boss."

Her voice made James flinch ever so slightly, but the distress on his face didn't seem to be any more intense than it had been the first time they'd opened up the arm. "Is that a good thing?" he asked, his voice a trifle hoarse.

"It means we don't have to custom make any connectors," Tony told him, "which will save us a fair bit of time. Want me to hook you back up until the prototype is done?"

James hesitated for a moment that seemed to stretch before he all but snarled, "No, just take the whole thing off me. I want it _gone_."

Caught off guard by the intensity of the emotion in James' voice, it was Tony's turn to flinch, but he recovered quickly. "Alright, stay put. I need a couple of tools for that."

It took him barely any time at all to grab the assortment of wrenches and screwdrivers he thought he might need and then make his way back to where James waited for him. Actually removing the arm, as requested, was not as easy as working out what sort of connection the arm had to the neural interface. There were what seemed like a hundred redundant bolts and screws and reinforcing plates connecting the arm to the base implanted in his shoulder, and it took a lot longer to undo them all than Tony suspected James had been prepared for.

When it came loose at last, James slumped forward, and Tony caught him before he could slide all the way to the concrete floor. Even with enhanced knees that would hurt. James was breathing hard and his eyes were a little wild. "Whoa, there. You okay?"

"I-- I think so? Felt like I was going to pass out," James answered him, letting Tony keep him steady on his seat.

"And now?" Tony asked him warily. "Dizzy? Head rush?"

Shaking his head, James tried to stand, but ended up letting himself sink back down onto his seat.

"Yeah, you're not going anywhere," Tony decided, and James made a frustrated sound that he ignored. "FRI? Ask Bucky to put James on a sofa somewhere or something. Maybe feed him. Something about removing the arm is making him react strangely."

"I'm not detecting anything obviously wrong on my sensors," FRIDAY responded, as Tony got one shoulder under James' good arm and hoisted him upright. "Rest and a snack ought to do the trick."

As she finished speaking Bucky appeared at the workshop door and FRIDAY let him in. "Tony? What's going on?"

James growled something uncomplimentary under his breath and tried to make Tony let him go. "What's going on is Tony is being a worse mother hen than Steve ever was."

Bucky snorted, then coughed trying not to laugh. "Why is he trying to mother you?"

"Because he nearly passed out on me twice, just now," Tony said scathingly. "Take him over to the kitchenette and feed him some juice or something."

"I could do with a bite to eat myself, anyway. It's nearly lunchtime," Bucky agreed, still doing his best to hide his amusement and failing. "Come on, James. It'll make Tony feel better."

The statement made James grumble wordlessly again, but he allowed Bucky to peel Tony away from him and make sure he was steady on his feet.

Tony watched them with a nod. Bucky hadn't even batted an eye over finding James down an arm, and there was no question in Tony's mind that that was exactly what James needed, right now. Trusting Bucky to make sure James got taken care of, he gathered up the parts he needed to complete the connections for the neural interface of the new arm.

It took him less than fifteen minutes to install them, and then start picking apart the ridiculously over-engineered framework that had been used to mount the arm to James' shoulder. He wouldn't be reusing it for the final version of the arm, but for the prototype it made sense not to reinvent the wheel.

FRIDAY scanned it once he had it free of the rest of the arm and added a render of it to the file that contained the blueprint for the arm he was working on building. It would make for a convenient template that he could use to design his own mounting assembly.

Once he'd added in the jack that would be needed so that James could move the arm and manipulate the joints, he picked up the jumble of steel that had been attached to James' shoulder, turning it this way and that, investigating it from every angle that made sense. It had been reinforced every which way, so that the weight and power of James' arm wouldn't result in him effectively yanking it off his own shoulder if he used too much torque, or risk destroying the neural interface that they'd shoved into him.

Tony shuddered to think of just how painful that must have been, and how many tries it had taken before HYDRA had found one version of it that James' body hadn't rejected. The files on the Winter Soldier had talked about that in fairly excruciating impersonal detail. There was no way Tony intended to ask him to submit to having a the old one taken out and a new one installed. Not only would that be traumatic on an emotional level, but there was no guarantee that anything he designed wouldn't be rejected. No, it needed to stay right where it was unless it was causing James problems with consequences -- or of a severity -- that outweighed the possible negative consequences of attempting to fix them.

Shoving those thoughts aside and shaking his head to clear it, Tony double checked the wiring and connections one last time, then stood to get the panels that needed to be put in place for the upper arm.

Nearly finished.

When Tony passed by the dopplegangers, James looked up from the sandwich Bucky had apparently convinced him to eat, his expression hopeful and a lot calmer than it had been before. Tony raised an eyebrow at him, looked at him critically, then relaxed when he saw that James was okay.

Bucky beat his double to the punch, though -- probably because James had a mouthful of food -- and demanded, "It done?"

"Just about. Gotta put on the panels for the upper arm and then we can bolt it onto him and let him test it out. I'll be leaving the plates for the shoulder for last so that I can reach the mounting points," Tony responded. "The next iteration will be designed so that it can be put on and removed without having to worry about that. He'll have to wear the prototype for at least a day and test it out thoroughly so that we can fix the bugs on the next go round, if there are any."

"Not a problem," James said firmly.

"I was pretty sure I could count on you. No issues having the arm off?" Tony asked him, just to be sure.

"It's a lot less strange this way. Easier," James said with a long breath that was almost a sigh, "but I'd much rather have the new arm than none at all."

That was as good as a demand, so Tony left them to it in favour of finishing the prototype. He heard James and Bucky talking quietly behind him as he worked, but didn't pay them any heed. He wanted to be sure there were no flaws in the wiring or the servos and actuators. There would be no sensory feedback yet, since James had decided to forego the skin on this iteration. Tony was ultimately fine with that since he'd had to figure out the neural interface on the fly for this prototype. For the next one, he'd have a much better understanding of how it all worked and how to tie the new skin into the existing sensor net. Those new additions to the arm would mean another new learning curve for James, but he was pretty sure that wouldn't matter to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [5] For those of you who aren't familiar with the language, here's a picture:  
.  
Click here to return to text.
> 
> [6] Because carbon fibre is conductive and can fail catastrophically under cyclic loading (i.e: you hit it in the same place over and over) -- more background info [here](https://www.christinedemerchant.com/carboncharacteristics.html) \-- Tony's planning to reinforce James' arm appropriately and also make sure there won't be any potential short circuits by insulating the hell out of everything. The wiring will be done carefully and the inside of the arm will be coated in the same epoxy layer he uses for the outside, just to make sure nothing goes wrong without massive provocation. Click here to return to text.
> 
> [7] Have some more science! Epoxy legit gets stronger if you [put little bits of rubber in it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_toughening#Epoxy_resins). The rubber allows the material to flex and makes it less brittle. It's super cool stuff. :D [Boeing uses it for a lot of aerospace applications](https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/boeing-787-update). 
> 
> For those interested in some really hardcore science and engineering, I offer this paper on the topic: [LINK](https://www.intechopen.com/books/adhesives-applications-and-properties/fracture-toughening-mechanisms-in-epoxy-adhesives). Click here to return to text.
> 
> [8] Plug and socket connectors are pretty self explanatory to me, but I don't want to assume, so have another [Wikipedia link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_connector#Plug_and_socket_connectors). Click here to return to text.
> 
> [9] Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiangles. Triangles [are the strongest shape](https://undergroundmathematics.org/thinking-about-geometry/triangles-are-the-strongest-shape) which is why they're used in all kinds of things, like cranes, that have to be as lightweight and as sturdy as possible.  
  
Click here to return to text.


	4. Chapter 4

Finishing up with the panels he needed to situate just as he finished that thought, Tony sat back and stretched out his hands and wrists again. "Come here, James," he called, sure Bucky would follow James over.

Before he could blink, James was leaning over his shoulder and reaching out for the new arm which lay beside the old, looking like a sleekly dangerous matte black contrast. He ran his good hand almost reverently over it.

Bucky looked it over, taking in the differences between old and new. "It looks like it's going to break the sound barrier just lying there," he commented. "Just how brand new is this tech?"

Tony grinned up at his lover. "The tech itself isn't new, but the application is, and so is the way it's been implemented. The stuff it's made of has been around for a while and is used for a lot of things that need a material that's both light and strong. The electronics are also proven tech. I designed those in the 90s, and they've turned out to be more robust than even I expected. But using both together for a prosthetic? That's new, as far as I know. I didn't go digging around the patent database first."

FRIDAY chimed in. "Carbon fibre prosthetics have been around for a while, too, Boss, but they're not as complex as this one[10], and none has the skin you plan to implement."

"I want it," James declared. "Put it on me."

Bucky chuckled at him and teased him a little. "You'd say that about anything Tony offered you."

James pinked a little when Tony laughed outright, throwing his head back, but simply shrugged his good shoulder. "Like you'd do any different."

Lifting the prototype into place and starting to bolt it down, Tony pointed out, "I'm liable to offer Bucky a little more than you, though. We talked about the consent thing already."

That made James pink a little more and Bucky smirk. His boyfriend reached out to take the weight of the prosthetic so that Tony could focus on tightening the bolts the correct amount. "Does that mean I get you to myself for a bit, after this?" Bucky asked him, his tone arch.

"I could be persuaded," Tony answered absently, making as sure as he could that nothing would pinch James if he moved the prosthetic in a direction that Tony hadn't anticipated.

"It's like you've forgotten I'm here," James put in wryly.

"Oh, I haven't forgotten you," Tony shot back. "Now, I'm going to reconnect the neural interface. This might feel strange. Once you test out its responses a little we'll close it up, and then you can get on with your day. I want to make sure you can work the hand and fingers, at least, before you leave the shop."

James nodded, his expression smoothing out and going a bit blanker than it had been. It reminded Tony of the first few weeks he'd been at the Tower, and he found he didn't like that.

But he could mull that over later.

Plugging James in, Tony watched the man tense all over, as though he'd just taken a hit from a cattle prod, before he very nearly slid right back down to the floor again.

This time Bucky caught James by the waist before he could slide far. "Looks like this is a reaction to the arm," he commented to Tony while James fought for air and clung to him.

"It does," Tony agreed, not liking the implications of that one bit, "but since we don't know exactly what's causing it, we can't fix it. Not right away, at any rate. We might have to call in Dr. Cho once James has gone public. That kind of thing is way outside my area of expertise."

Recovering rather faster that time around and pushing himself back to his feet James, caught Tony's eyes, "It seems to be less intense when you plug me in than when you remove the arm."

"Regardless, we're making sure you don't take a header onto the floor when we change this out for the final version of the arm," Tony told him firmly. "No blood on the shop floor. Well, maybe I should say 'none but mine'."

"That's morbid," Bucky told him.

"I cut myself sometimes," Tony defended himself lazily. "Metal has sharp edges. James, can you move your hand?"

The fingers twitched, but James shook his head. "It's... It's different. I'm trying, but it doesn't follow the same commands as the old one."

That represented a flaw in the design. Shit. "I didn't think to ask. Did you use specific commands to move it, before? I thought it was just intuitive."

"No," James shook his head. "I had to learn how to move it. I'll learn this one, too. Just got to..." His left fist clenched and he smiled. "Just got to find the right input."

Seeing that, Tony relaxed. "Good. You go experiment with that, then, and tell me or FRIDAY if you find glitches or problems. It's not waterproofed yet, so be careful around faucets."

Bucky took that as his cue, and he hauled Tony towards the workshop door. "You're eatin' somethin', then," he declared, "an' after, I intend to wreck you."

James trailed after them, apparently absorbed in trying out the responses of his new arm. By the time they'd reached the common floor, he'd managed to work out how to move his fingers individually, and sauntered out of the elevator.

Tony watched him go and couldn't help but think that James' body language screamed relief and anticipation. He looked like a new man, and if that wasn't gratifying, Tony didn't know what would be.

As the doors slid shut again, Bucky tucked himself against Tony's back and murmured, "You made him a happy man today. He'll never say it out loud, but there were so many bad memories attached to that arm. Not havin' it anymore will make it possible for him to recover further. Might even get close to who he was before HYDRA got their grubby mitts on 'im."

"He tell you about that?" Tony asked, leaning back against Bucky's chest and enjoying the contact.

"Not in s'many words, but I got the gist. An' doin' somethin' like that for someone like him," Bucky replied, "that's what makes you so amazin'."

"Billionaire genius," Tony quipped. "I have the means, so I intend to destroy the man HYDRA turned him into. James deserves to be who he wants. Not who they told him to be or who they made him by force. Or what. They took away his humanity and tried to turn him into an object."

"Exactly what I meant." Bucky kissed and nipped his way down Tony's neck to his pulse point, then put his hands on Tony's hips to urge him forward when the elevator doors opened again on the penthouse suite. "You're gonna eat a sandwich, an' then I am gonna pin you to that fancy mattress of yours."

Chuckling at his eagerness, Tony accepted that. "And later we need to talk over that thing you brought up, about adding James to our relationship."

Bucky gave him a startled look. "I thought we were gonna wait on that."

"We were, but I realised something today," Tony admitted.

Eyeing him shrewdly for a moment as he tugged Tony into the kitchen, Bucky nodded. "You're fallin' for him. Ain't'cha?"

Unprepared to be pinned down like a butterfly despite knowing just how well Bucky could read him, Tony had to take a hitching breath to steady himself. "I... I'm not sure. I don't think it's reached that point yet, but I'm also pretty sure it could, easily."

"Huh. Well, that don't mean we gotta change anything," Bucky answered, picking his words carefully as he started pulling things out of Tony's fridge and assembling a pair of sandwiches. "We can stick to the casual touches and cuddles we offered him and wait this out a little."

The relief that flooded through him made Tony realise just how tense he'd been. "That's probably the best course of action. Even if we're both open to the idea, we have no idea if he is. The way he reacted to hearing us flirt, the last few times we did it around him, he might not be."

"Or he might want it more than he's willing to admit, even to himself." Bucky sounded rueful and knowing.

"Reacted like that a few times in your life, have you?" Tony speculated. That had sounded like experience talking. "Steve?"

"And Peggy," he admitted, the back of his neck going a few shades redder. "'M pretty sure she and Steve both knew, but if they did neither o' them minded too much. Luckily."

Somehow that was unsurprising, on all counts. "We'll play things by ear for now," Tony reiterated, picking up a sandwich, and starting to eat it automatically. "And in the meantime, we can keep ourselves amused, I'll bet."

With a smirk, Bucky followed suit, starting to eat his own sandwich in large bites. "Prob'ly," he agreed, mumbling around his mouthful of food, then swallowed. "You're a creative sort of guy."

Tony considered that, pleased once more that Bucky liked that side of him -- not all of his lovers had -- and applied himself to the task of finishing his sandwich.

After a couple of bites, he asked, "Interested in trying something new?"

"Like what?" His boyfriend responded, sounding mostly curious.

"Like movement restriction. We've held each other down before, but that's not the same as one of us letting the other tie him to something so that he can't do certain things. Like touch his cock," Tony said with a smirk, and watched as Bucky went pink.

"Maybe," Bucky told him after a moment's thought and took another bite of his food. Once he'd swallowed, he added, "We'd have to talk it through a little more. What'd'ya have in mind?"

"Thought maybe I'd see if you'd let me tie your hands to the headboard and touch you all over, but if that's not something you want, I'm fine with switching roles." Tony paused to take the last bite of his own meal. "Or nixing it entirely, as the case might be."

"Gotta say, I was more interested in hearing about that other kink you were hinting at. What was it you were saying about James' hand?"

Tony huffed at him, amused. "Not so much his hand as the fact that it wouldn't be blood warm," he clarified. "Temperature play is a thing."

Bucky looked a little baffled. "That's a thing people like? I never heard about that before. Explain it t'me?"

"It's a way of playing with subconscious responses," Tony said, trying to find a way to explain it that would make sense to his boyfriend, and not sure he was succeeding. "It's a thrill because it's not exactly a touch that your brain associates with comfort. Like ice. Ice is uncomfortable to touch, because you stick to it and it screams danger on levels that are hard to deny. Combine that with knowing that it's someone you trust controlling that touch, and it can be amazing."

"Hm. And it also works like that for hot things?"

"Pretty much, yeah. Some people like to play with hot wax. That's not so much my thing, but it can be good if done right." Tony brushed his fingers off and hooked them as casually as he could in his pockets.

Bucky's expression went dubious. "Ain't that dangerous? And messy?"

"A little. But so are most kinks," Tony pointed out. "Sex is dangerous and messy, even without getting kinky."

With a snort and a shake of his head, Bucky accepted that. "I guess. So you wanted to play around with ice cubes?"

"Maybe tomorrow," Tony suggested. "You need to think it over first. FRIDAY can get you some more information, if you decide you're game to try it out."

"In that case, I'm gonna wreck you the old fashioned way today," his lover decided and reached out to hook an arm around Tony's waist so he could drag Tony in close. "C'mere."

They stood there nose-to-nose for a moment, and then Bucky was kissing the air right out of him, his enthusiasm gratifying and contagious. The kiss was wet and deep right from the start, making Tony groan and do his best to give as good as he was getting. Even better, Bucky's hands seemed to be everywhere at once. Lingering at the base of his skull, toying with his hair, then grabbing a fistful of it and pulling just hard enough to make him hiss and tilt his head. Roaming over his flank and ass and thigh, then trailing back up his spine to the point of his shoulder blade, before playing with the button and fly of his shop jeans and ever so lightly teasing at the skin beneath through the heavy cotton fabric. 

His own hands were wrapped firmly around Bucky's ass and hips, kneading at the firm muscle there in the way he knew Bucky loved until he managed to pull a hitching whine out of his boyfriend. Once he was sure Bucky was as properly riled up as he was, Tony let his hands wander upward, tracing out paths that led across Bucky's ribs and chest until he could toy with a nipple. That got him a surprised squeak, as it nearly always did, and Bucky growled into the kiss, breaking it.

"You are so gonna get it, pal," his lover threatened him.

Suddenly hoisted up off his feet, Tony laughed, and buried his hands in Bucky's hair. "That's exactly what I was hoping for."

"I am gonna suck you off and then fuck your thighs," Bucky declared, "an' maybe we'll do it again in the opposite order for round two."

"Sounds good to me," Tony agreed, and mentally prepared himself to spend the next couple of hours in bed. It wasn't like they didn't have the time to indulge, so why not take advantage. Until Simmons got back to him with his evaluation of Ross' contract, he was effectively at loose ends.

In the end, they didn't leave Tony's bedroom -- now theirs, really, -- before Peggy had FRIDAY call them down to the common floor to join them for dinner.

They emerged from the elevator, both still damp from their shared shower to find James showing off his new arm to Pepper and Peggy. Steve was nowhere to be seen, and Tony assumed he'd vanished back to the Avengers compound sometime after lunch.

"Tony! There you are," Pepper stood and clicked over to him on her customary heels to drop a kiss on his cheekbone. "I've heard you decided to start preparing James for his debut in front of the media."

That was news to him. "Last I heard, James hadn't made his decision yet," he responded gamely, "but if he feels ready, we'll get him up to speed on how to deal with those vultures."

"I've shown him footage of a couple of yer press releases to give him an idea of what to expect, Boss," FRIDAY put in.

Peggy sniffed, offended on his behalf. "Vultures is too kind a term for people like those," she said scathingly. "They're worse than the muckrakers ever were[11]. You're certain those are the reputable newsmen and not the ones perpetuating yellow journalism?"

"Unfortunately, they are," Pepper responded with a sigh. "Well, I'm glad I heard about this plan now. James, we'll talk about this again in more detail later. You'll need to help us decide on a narrative and we'll have to coach you in how to deal with the news networks' brand of hostility."

"I could probably rig up a simulation of it," Tony offered. "There's plenty of footage on the internet that FRIDAY can cull through for inspiration, and use to generate her own pointed questions for James."

Peggy considered that. "It's not a bad idea. James?"

"Let's worry about that after we eat," Bucky put in. "But I'd think a way to practice that'd be a big help."

"Alright," Pepper conceded.

"What'd'ya order, anyway?" Bucky asked, picking up the nearest container of food and sniffing at it.

"Looks like Thai," Tony told him.

"It is," Pepper confirmed. "James picked it out."

That meant there was likely a selection of spicy and non-spicy dishes on offer. Tony made a note to check before he bit into things. He didn't mind spicy as long as he was prepared for it, but when it was a surprise… yeah. No thanks.

The five of them ate in companionable silence for the most part, sporadic conversation swelling up like the tide and then ebbing again. It was far more comfortable, Tony realised, than he would ever have expected the atmosphere to be, this time last year. The last ten months had been some of the best he could remember, which was somewhat ironic considering that that was the case because he had Bucky and James and Peggy in his life now.

As they finished their meal and relaxed back into their seats, Pepper caught Tony's eyes. "We need to do something about Ross, regardless of what the law team says about this latest fire he's started. He's been a thorn in our sides for years, and I, for one, have had enough of his consistent sabotage attempts."

James growled something under his breath. "That's what I said."

Peggy snorted. "You wanted to assassinate him. That's not going to make things better."

Pepper gave James a startled look. "No. That's a terrible plan. We're trying to keep you out of jail, not add to the list of things they can try to pin on you -- and possibly succeed."

Bucky nodded. "But a political solution to your problem with him is gonna be hard to come by, from the sound of things."

"Ross has a lot of pull on Capitol Hill," Tony explained, "that's the problem with trying to oust him politically. He's made more than a few very public mistakes with regard to handling crises that might as well be a manual of what not to do, but public opinion isn't enough to get him out of his cushy office."

"If you can get out of this attempt to take your armour, can't you sue him?" Peggy asked.

"That wouldn't get him out of office either," Pepper mused, "but if we use the attempt to put pressure on the DoD by threatening to withhold our next set of designs that might give us some leverage. No one will openly say it, but Stark Industries has been the company keeping our military supplied with just about everything crucial to their operations for decades. That gives us the majority of our annual income."

Tony nodded, then smirked as a thought hit him. "Threatening to terminate our contracts if Ross is allowed to continue being a dick to me would definitely tell them that we're serious. Not even Ross has enough pull to counter that kind of a play. It has potential."

"Wait, are you suggesting..." Pepper stared at him blankly for a moment, then a slow edged smile crept over her features. "Leave the details of that to me and Rhodey. Jim is still officially SI's military liaison, so if it comes from him, that'll lend our complaint even more weight. FRIDAY, could you pull the applicable subsections of our active DoD and military contracts?"

"Those pertaining to termination of the contracts, Ms. Potts?" FRIDAY asked, to clarify.

"Yes," Pepper smiled, the expression taking on a vicious edge, "I'll have a look at them when I get to my office in the morning."

"They'll be ready and waiting," the AI responded.

"If I find anything actionable, I'll get it moving before the deadline Ross gave you," she added. "Maybe we can head him off at the pass."

Peggy looked almost gleeful. "I knew I liked you," she told Pepper, then turned to Tony. "Watching you two work is brilliant, you know."

Tony gave Pepper a rueful smile. "I know what you mean; sometimes I wish we hadn't broken up."

"We're both better off this way, though," Pepper agreed, a hint of remembered sadness in her voice. "I miss being with Tony, but I just couldn't be the person waiting to hear the news that one day he just wouldn't be coming home. It was hard enough when I was his PA and he vanished for three months. If that had happened again -- or something worse had happened -- when I was his girlfriend, it might have broken me."

Bucky gave him a knowing look and Tony knew his boyfriend had seen right through him to his core, where he still adored Pepper and revered her as the goddess she was -- and always would.

Peggy nodded, sobering. "There's good reason why I try not to let Steven out of my sight, now that we both have a second chance at making things work. After he went down, I always regretted keeping my distance, good reasons for doing so or not."

"He could use the supervision," James interjected, sounding more like Bucky than he ever had in the time Tony had known him. "The dumbass wouldn't know common sense if it came up and slapped him in the face."

"He never did," Peggy agreed. "But enough of this solemn talk. We should choose a film to watch, since all of us have a free evening."

Bucky grinned. "Somethin' lively or somethin' more relaxin'?"

"Should we show them _Kung Fury_?[12]" Tony asked Pepper.

"You think they're prepared for that level of absurdity?"

Bucky turned to her and asked her, deadpan, "Is it more absurd than suddenly getting yanked seventy years into the future, getting together with the guy that did it, then finding out he has a suit of armour that flies and your alternate future self has been held by the enemy you thought was dead for seventy years and has a metal arm?"

Tilting her head at him, Pepper conceded the point. "Hm, it's about on par, when you put it that way. There are a lot of references and jokes that come out of the 80s, though, and you missed those years."

Peggy shrugged. "That's no different whether we watch something cut together last year or twenty years ago. I say ‘why not'."

Once the half hour long movie was over, Peggy stared at the screen for a moment longer, then shrugged. "That was rather more ridiculous than I expected," she said eventually.

Pepper's lips quirked up. "Tony loves it because he grew up in the 80s and knows Thor personally."

James raised an eyebrow, and Peggy looked like she wasn't sure whether Pepper was pulling her leg. "Come again?"

"He helped us out against the Chitauri a few years back, and then vanished back to Asgard," Tony offered. "Just ask Steve if you don't believe me. Or the internet. There's plenty of footage, courtesy of the people who will literally brave death to get some video to sell." He hesitated, then kept his voice as light as he could when he added, "He didn't like what happened to create Ultron, though, and I had a key role in that, so right now he disapproves of me."

Peggy sniffed. "I'll believe that story if and when I meet him myself. You've shown me just how well and how often the internet tells fibs."

Bucky and James sided with her, nodding. After a moment, James added, "That movie was fun to watch, though."

Tony grinned. "Steve hated it."

"I told you when you showed him that it would be too much for him to take in," Pepper reminded him. "All those pop culture references that he missed, and all the reminders of the battles he'd fought."

"He said he liked satire and Chaplin," Tony defended himself. "It wasn't that much of a stretch!"

"You showed him _The Great Dictator_?" Peggy guessed, sounding amused.

"We did," Pepper said with a nod, "right before he went off to tour the country on a road trip. That was before he and Tony started to bicker constantly."

"While he still felt bad that I nearly did take that one way trip, you mean." Tony stretched and groaned when he heard several of his joints pop. Looking back over it, it had been a very long emotionally draining day, and he hadn't realised just how tired he was until he'd dared mention his tangle with the portal. He shoved those memories back in their box and stood, suddenly done with the day and its ups and downs. "Anyway. I think I want to go be horizontal for a while. Coming, Bucky?"

"Damned right, I am," Bucky agreed. "G'night, ladies and gents, don't expect to see either of us before 8 am."

Laughing and trying not to let it sound tight, despite the way any mention of that portal made him feel, Tony let himself be led back out of the common floor media room and into the elevator. Bucky kept a hold on him until they reached their bedroom, tangling his fingers with Tony's. The touch, simple as it was, sent a warmth through him that helped shove back the slight edge of panic he felt, and, shit, he was in deeper than he'd thought.

Of all the things that would make him realise he'd finally properly fallen head over heels for his boyfriend, he'd never have expected it would be something like this.

For all that neither of them had ever said the words, Tony'd been able to read it in Bucky's actions, and he was almost sure Bucky had been able to see it in him, too. Bucky was better at reading him than anyone but Pepper. Not even Rhodey was as good at that.

He knew better than to say anything about his little epiphany, though. Not yet. He'd wait until morning, or possibly after this thing with Ross was dealt with. After all the emotion that had been flung around today, by everyone, including Bucky, they needed a break from that sort of thing, and the two of them would have to talk about James at some point, anyway. He could do it, then.

In the meantime, he had an arm to refine and build, and he'd probably have to give a press conference about what he and Pepper had discussed. And he needed to start thinking about how to introduce James into the limelight. He'd hate it there, but there was little chance he could avoid it, if he was going to stick around the Tower for much longer. He'd already been living with them for nearly a year, and it was a testament to how good he was at sticking to the shadows that the news hadn't broken already.

Bucky cleared his throat, breaking Tony back out of his thoughts. "Sweetheart? Something wrong?"

The question made Tony realise he'd just been standing in the elevator staring blankly at the open doors without moving. He shook his head to clear it. "Nah, just woolgathering."

"Well, stop that and come to bed," Bucky demanded with a half-smile. "You need the sleep."

"Probably," Tony admitted. "It's been a long day."

"You said it," Bucky agreed, and chivvied him into his bathroom, then his pyjamas, and proceeded to wrap himself possessively around Tony under the covers. "Close your eyes," he commanded, and dropped a chaste peck of a kiss in Tony's hair. "You can worry some more in the mornin'."

Huffing at him and winding his arms around Bucky's waist in turn, Tony muttered. "You can't stop me. I'll worry in my sleep."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [10] This is an example of what FRIDAY's referring to: [Link](https://www.reinforcer.com/en/category/detail/Carbon-Fiber-Epoxy-Composites-Ideal-Materials-for-Orthopedic-Prosthetics-/46/235/0). I didn't go digging in all kinds of detail, but there are plenty of other references on the topic, if you're interested in knowing more, such as this [paper from the NIH databses](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7031367). Click here to return to text.
> 
> [11] [Muckrakers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckraker) were, historically seen, the first investigative journalists. They had something of a bad reputation, though, because they often ended up working for tabloids and involved in publishing scandals and gossip. Click here to return to text.
> 
> [12] If you haven't seen it, do go watch it, it's free and amazing and hilarious. [Youtube Link to a half hour well spent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg). Click here to return to text.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Bucky woke him with a kiss, and Tony wasn't objecting to that whatsoever. It didn't take him long to start worrying about James and their situation again, though, and that was a loose thread he just knew he'd be unable to stop picking at.

"What's your plan for the day?" Bucky asked him after they'd spent a distracted minute getting reacquainted.

Tony thought about it for a moment. "Depends on what Pepper has to say about those contract termination clauses and what issues James has found with the arm, if any."

"Mmm, good," Bucky said. "That means I can follow through and keep you here until eight, like I promised."

That sounded good to him. Tony smirked and reached for Bucky, running his hand along the line of his boyfriend's jaw and scratching lightly at the stubble there, just to make Bucky purr at him. He kind of loved that sound. "What did you have in mind?"

"Nothin' in particular. Just wanted to hold you. Ain't had much time to do that, lately," Bucky told him, nuzzling at the skin behind Tony's ear.

Abruptly feeling almost guilty -- he really had been far too busy for leisurely cuddling for most of the last few weeks, and now this thing with Ross had been stressing him the fuck out -- Tony reached for Bucky.

His hand was caught before he could do anything, and Bucky caught his eyes. "No, it ain't your fault. Stop thinking that," he said firmly, making Tony groan.

"But it is. I should've made time," he argued. 

"Ya still haven't learned that there's a maximum of 24 hours in a day, have ya?" Bucky teased him gently. "You had all kinds of things to do, and I could'a said somethin' 'bout it. If it's your fault, it's my fault, too."

Since getting together with Bucky, he reflected, he'd definitely gotten a lot better at this relationship thing. "Fine," he accepted that more or less gracefully. "Say something next time? I'll try to remember not to let the rabbit hole eat me alive."

Bucky nodded, the movement rubbing his nose against Tony's skin and making his stubble tug at Tony's hair. "You got the equivalent of two full time jobs, an' me," he pointed out. "There'll be times when one has to get neglected a little. I know that, an' I understand, but I don't like it."

Tony made sure to plaster them a bit tighter together, tucking himself against Bucky's broad chest and making an unhappy sound. "I know what you mean," he muttered. "It was a lot like that when I was with Pepper."

"You still love her, don't you," Bucky asked, though his tone made it more of a statement of fact.

"I don't know how to stop, and I don't want to. She's worth it," Tony told him, his voice quiet.

"I understand that, too," Bucky replied. "I don't think I'll ever entirely get over Steve, but he just was never interested in fellas."

"His loss," Tony quipped, "is my gain. You're every bit as worth it as Pepper."

And, once his mind caught up to what he'd said, he swallowed hard. That cat was out of the bag, now. But Bucky didn't seem to mind one bit judging by the way he smiled and did his best to kiss Tony breathless. 

His best was damned good, too, Tony thought dazedly.

"I love you, too," Bucky told him, when the kiss finally broke. "Been tryin' to decide how and when to say it."

Laughing, Tony decided it was definitely a good morning, but there was one more serious thing he needed to say. "I had to give Pepper up. That's not something I ever want to go through again."

"You won't. Not if I can help it," Bucky promised him. 

"That's not something you can promise," Tony pointed out. "People and circumstances change, and there're all kinds of things outside of our control."

"Don't care," Bucky retorted. "Whatever I can control, I intend to, and I got no intention of leavin'. Not even for Steve."

Good enough. Tony nodded and let the subject drop.

They stayed right where they were until FRIDAY prompted them to get out of bed and find something to eat, and then they reluctantly let go of one another so that they could dress -- though their hands wandered freely as they did -- before making their way down to the common floor kitchen. They found James at the stove, and that was unusual enough to make Tony stop in his tracks for a moment. Normally, it was Bucky that cooked for all of them. James preferred not to because of the lack of tactile feedback from his left arm, and Peggy wasn't all that good at it. Neither was Tony.

And yet...

"Mornin, James," Bucky greeted his double, "what's cookin'?"

"The usual," James answered absently, clearly quite focused on what he was doing. "Been a while, so I decided not to try anything difficult."

Tony busied himself making coffee, and smiled as he watched James manipulate the new arm. It moved smoothly and James was already almost as good at using this one as the metal monstrosity he'd had previously. The new arm looked a lot better, too, in his opinion, and so did James. The metal limb had had an air of danger, of lethality, even, and while he'd been wearing it, James had had something ever so slightly awkward in the set of his shoulders. It had been so subtle Tony hadn't realised it had been there until it had vanished. The man standing in front of him looked completely at ease in a way Tony had never seen him, despite his intense focus on the pan he was cooking eggs in.

Peggy picked that moment to stroll in and seat herself at the breakfast bar. "I trust all of you slept well," she commented.

"Tolerably," Bucky responded with a grin. "You?"

"Tolerably," she parrotted his answer right back at him. "And you, James?"

"Better than usual, actually," he answered, and Tony could see the edges of the smile that tugged at his lips. "I never realised how much sleeping with the old arm on bothered me until it was gone."

Peggy nodded thoughtfully. "Stands to reason, I suppose. It's easy to get used to working around certain things."

Tony had to admit that Bucky had been right in his assessment that getting rid of the old arm would be like setting down a weight James had been carrying for decades. He'd never heard James cheerful before, and was having to force himself not to stare in wonder at the transformation he'd somehow enabled. 

James was reacting to them more and more like Bucky, and much of that change had happened practically overnight.

The coffee finished percolating, and Tony picked up the carafe to pour it out. "No issues with the new arm, then?"

"None so far," James informed him, sounding almost gleeful. "When you going to make me the final version with that skin you promised me?"

Pleased with what he'd wrought, Tony turned to his AI. "FRIDAY? Put the requisite parts into the production queue, if you would."

James glanced over at him, surprised and pleased, and the shy half-smile on his face was all the reward Tony needed.

Fuck, he had it bad.

The moment broke quickly, and James turned away to plate the food. Peggy stepped over to pick up a couple of plates and put them in front of Tony and Bucky, then grabbed for one more for herself. James handed out flatware, and they settled in to eat. A companionable silence fell, and Tony marveled at the fact that with these three, he didn't feel the need to fill it. Silence had been an enemy to fight for so long, he'd forgotten what it was like not to. Silence had meant he was bored for the first half of his life, and after that it had tended to mean he thought about things he didn't want to think about. Now, it was different.

Without a word, he leaned into Bucky's side, pressing their shoulders together, and his boyfriend just smiled, the sap.

James eyed them, a flicker of what Tony almost thought was envy flitting across his features, then just kept eating. When all of them had finished their meal, they sat back and FRIDAY picked that moment to pipe up. "Boss, ye've got an email from Ms. Potts about yer plan to spike Ross' wheels."

"What's she say?"

"She'd like you to wait until the law team have had one more day to look at Ross' documents, and if they haven't found a solution by that time, to let her and Col. Rhodes take action. Ye may have to give a press conference about it, and if so Ms. Potts is planning to schedule it for the day of Ross' deadline. If not, she'll have Ms. Arbogast write the press release."

"I'd guessed as much," he said and ran a hand through his hair. "Keep me posted."

James looked like he wanted to make a face, and Bucky chuckled at him. "Seems like every little thing requires talkin' to the newsmen, these days," he commented. "James livin' here, us gettin' together, you havin' an argument with Ross."

Tony shrugged. "Well, you're not strictly wrong about that," he said feeling a wry half-smile twist his lips. "But all of those things are a lot less little than you think."

With an irritated sniff, Peggy turned to look at him and said, "They're little. People simply make mountains out of molehills just as readily now as they did in our time."

Bucky nodded, clearly agreeing with the sentiment, then leaned on his elbows on the breakfast bar. "So do we need to call Steve here for what Ms. Potts and Col. Rhodes are about to start?"

"Not yet," Peggy decided. "Steven does best when he has a concrete plan he can put into action. We'll formulate one and give it to him."

Tony nodded. "Better if we don't get him involved in the press conference, I think. That's not his arena, and if we let him join in, it would backfire. He'd be more help if he threw his reputation behind us afterwards."

James looked a bit apprehensive. "And what if Ross decides to try to force his contract through?"

"We'll deal with that if and when it happens," Tony told him. "First the lawyers need time to pick apart what he handed me, and find some holes we can exploit. Then we can jump on that landmine."

Bucky scowled. "Not if you're gonna try an' take the hit for us," he put in. "We talked about this habit of yours."

James nodded, immediately throwing his support behind Bucky's position. "I spent enough years as HYDRA's attack dog," he said quietly. "I can't recommend it as a career choice."

Faced with that, there was little Tony could do but bite down on his reflexive inclination to object. Out of all of them, he had the best chance of taking that kind of hit and surviving. He had the money and the social influence. Bucky and James and Peggy... even Steve... none of them did. If there was no other way to save the team -- and through them the world's defenses against threats only the team could take on -- he would take that hit.

"You heard FRIDAY," he said instead, "We have one more day to ourselves to prepare and to rest up, and then we'll have to see what's coming our way. We can't plan with the information we have now."

"Just so, Boss," FRIDAY agreed. "The optimal use of yer time would be to finish the arm ye promised James, and put it on him."

Tony eyed James, who'd perked up, hearing that. "If I'm going to do that, Bucky's coming down to the shop with us. And maybe Peggy too," he told James. "If you react the same way to this arm coming off as you did the old one, I want someone there besides me."

"Don't you have some kinda fancy tech to help out, Tony?" Bucky put in. "I'm not sure how much help we'd be. We're not medics."

"The Boss was working on an active scan that'd pick up and monitor vital signs not that long ago," FRIDAY put in, and Tony wanted to groan because that was so far from perfected he doubted it would even be applicable to this situation.

"That only works on when there's a single person in the room at a time or when I'm in my armour, FRI," he pointed out, "and it would take too long to get it working for it to be useful today."

"And you don't know any medics that you could call in?" Peggy asked, breaking her silence. "What about Sam?"

That wasn't a bad idea, but it would mean inviting one of the team into his workshop and that gave Tony pause. There were plenty of things in there that he didn't want other people to see, and more that he couldn't allow other people to see. But James' well being would trump even those confidentiality clauses when the chips were down, and Tony knew that. Running his hands through his hair, he made a decision. "Fine. But only Wilson. We don't need to draw Ross' attention by letting the whole team swarm the building too often this week. They've already been by once, recently."

FRIDAY sounded like she was smirking when she replied. "I'll just let him know, then, shall I, Boss?"

"Do that, and have the bots hide away anything that's eyes-only," he demanded. "What's the ETA on those parts?"

"Approximately half an hour," his AI told him, and Bucky nodded, his expression a little faraway in the manner that Tony associated with planning.

"Sam will need more time than that to get here," his boyfriend said slowly. "James? Tony can go get the build started, but I wanted to discuss the whole goin' public thing with ya a little more."

James looked puzzled, but agreed readily enough. "Sure."

Tony caught Peggy's eyes and got a shrug. "That sounds reasonable enough to me," she put in.

Shaking his head at them, but knowing he stood almost no chance of prying the truth of what Bucky planned out of his boyfriend, Tony decided to let it go. "Fine, come down to the shop when you're done, then."

It didn't take him long to get the workshop set up for his uncleared guest, and at about the time he finished that, the first components of the new arm were ready. Assembling it a second time was faster, now that he knew how all the parts fit together and had worked out the correct order to assemble them in. 

He only distantly registered that James and Sam and Bucky entered the workshop as he worked. Sam and Bucky settled on his sofa, and James, no less curious about the arm than he had been the first time around, came over to lean one cocked hip against the workbench and watch him build.

As the arm took shape, Sam joined them and started asking James what he felt were the pertinent questions about the prototype he was wearing. Tony didn't pay them much attention. He needed his focus to get the layer of silicone embedded sensors right, and get them correctly hooked into the feedback system that would plug into the multiplexer near the shoulder.

Once he was finished with that relatively fiddly process and sat up to stretch his hands and neck, Tony finally properly realised that they were there and turned to catch James' attention. "Can I help you?"

Sam made an amused huff. "Thought you already did," he said, before James spoke up.

James did nothing more than smile, slow and promising more than Tony thought was strictly appropriate.

Bucky chuckled. "Tell Sam about the arm," he interjected, making Sam's focus sharpen noticeably.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Tell me about the arm, and that strange reaction James apparently had."

Catching him up on the design for the new arm didn't take long, since Bucky and James had given him the basics on the prototype currently in use. "The one he's wearing is the stripped down version of this one," Tony said easily and pointed to the final version that lay on the bench in front of him. "This one is more complex. It does more than just move and grip things. Or will, once it's on James. It'll have some rudimentary sensory feedback that'll take some time to learn how to use, and a layer of fairly realistic skin on top of those sensors to protect them."

Sam nodded slowly. "What kind of sensation do those transmit?"

"Mostly feedback on pressure and temperature. It'll take some work to perfect a system that also can sense moisture without shorting out. Those sensors fail way too easily to be reliable in a set up like this. As it is, if he gets into a fight and starts punching things, these sensors could pretty easily get mangled. They're mechanically fairly delicate, despite their robustness in other aspects."

"And if they do fail? Will that hurt James?" Sam pursued the point, understandably skeptical about wiring something like that into someone's nervous system.

Luckily that was already built into the design. Tony grinned. "That's the beauty of using a multiplexer setup. It's an off-the-shelf part whose entire purpose is to selectively pass input and output signals to and from the arm. If something does break, it'll be simple enough to block that channel until I can get hands on with it and repair whatever's broken."

Sam actually looked approving, hearing that. "Good. Based on what those two have told me you've already mostly resolved the issue of the horrible biomechanics of the metal one."

"Metal is too damned heavy for a prosthetic, and frankly I'm amazed James managed to cope with having that thing on his shoulder for as long as he did," Tony scoffed. "There's nothing I can do about the mounting point they crammed into his shoulder, but I can fix the arm itself."

"Then I see no immediate issues that'll arise, even with the new sensors you're adding to that thing," Sam answered. "Now about that reaction you mentioned."

James scowled, not particularly enjoying their mothering, as he thought of it. "I was _fine_."

"Yeah," Tony shot back, "you were. _After_ you made me worry you were going to pass out, twice. I thought there might've been some fail-deadly bullshit built into your shoulder to prevent tampering, or some such. HYDRA being the assholes they are, I really wouldn't put that kind of thing past them."

Sam gave James a sharp look then turned back to Tony. "Okay, details. What exactly did you do and how exactly did he react?"

"That's the thing," Tony replied and made a frustrated sound. "All I did was unplug the jack that connected the metal arm from the socket in his shoulder. Then suddenly he was sliding off the stool next to my workbench and would've hit his head on the edge of the edge of the table if I hadn't managed to catch him. He said he didn't feel dizzy or nauseous or anything."

"That does seem a bit weird," Sam agreed, picking his words carefully. "It's hard to say exactly what would have caused it, though. I wasn't here the first time it happened, and what you're describing is inconclusive at best. It could be that it was just the shock of suddenly no longer getting the information from the arm that he was used to. It's been a couple of days since then, so I doubt there was anything implanted. Which is good because we are in no way prepared to deal with that kind of thing, if that was the case."

"So can I have my new arm, then?" James asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I see no reason why not, as long as we're careful." Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "We'd all rather you didn't have an adverse reaction to it."

Tony caught James' eyes. "If you think I'm about to just do whatever the fuck, messing around with something that could easily kill you, then let you collapse and possibly die on my watch, you'd better think again."

Bucky coughed, in an attempt not to laugh. "Tony, sweetheart," he said, "that's a pretty ironic thing ya just said."

"It's been a long time since I tested anything on myself," Tony retorted. "And my point stands."

No one bothered to respond to that verbally, though Bucky gave him a rather dubious look, so Tony went back to finishing the new arm he was building. All that was left to do was to put the final layer of skin on top and prepare the jack that would plug it into James, basically. A bit of detail work on the portions of the skin that would go over the metal shoulder mount, and then it would be ready for James to test.

Tony let himself lose himself in the task before him. It was primarily work that needed to be done by hand, rather than by his bots or FRIDAY, so he settled in with the roll of freshly prepared skin composite that FRIDAY had made for him while he worked on the more mechanical structures of the arm, some water-based lube, and a heat sealer.

The good thing was that FRIDAY could get him sewing patterns for opera gloves and he could use those -- automatically adjusted for the arm's measurements by his AI -- to cut out the requisite panels. He did so without hesitation, and then started fitting the panels of skin composite to the arm itself. After the hand had been heat sealed into a glove, a bit of lube went on the inside of the skin layer and on the arm itself, and then he slid the skin over the prosthetic.

It took a little bit of finagling, but once all the fingers were aligned, he could smooth out any wrinkles and make sure everything moved smoothly. The composite was designed so that the Kevlar kept it from tearing and the sex toy skin was not only flexible and but still had enough plasticity to allow the joints of the arm and hand to bend.

Once the skin of the hand was in place, the work got a lot quicker. It took him another ten minutes or so to seal up the rest of the arm and prepare the panel of skin composite that would cover up the shoulder. That part of the skin would have to get glued down to the shoulder mount, and fastened down firmly, and if he ever went shirtless getting it to look like there was no prosthetic attached to him would require a heavy coating of waterproof makeup, but it was the best Tony could do for the time being. Someday he'd probably be able to make the composite transition seamlessly to skin, but that day wasn't today.

"Well?" James prompted him, breaking him out of his thoughts and making Tony laugh at the eagerness he could hear. "Is it done? It looks done."

Sam raised an eyebrow at James and chuckled. "He'd been pestering you, hasn't he, Tony?"

Bucky snorted. "Night an' day," he confirmed, "but Tony don't mind."

"This arm was already a huge step up," James defended himself with a put out look on his face. "And that one," he pointed to it, "will be even better. Of course I want it as soon as I can get my hands on it."

"Well, one hand, at least," Tony dared to joke, getting a groan out of Bucky and a disbelieving stare from Sam.

James just shrugged. "Okay, you have a point. One hand."

"Alright, let's get this show on the road, then," Sam said, shaking his head in mock disapproval. "James, you're sitting your ass down where you won't end up on the floor. Tony, bring that arm over to the sofa."

Giving in to Sam's insistence and Tony's, James scowled again but stalked across the workshop and let himself fall onto the sofa, somewhat aggressively sprawling out to take up as much of the furniture as he could manage.

It turned out to be just as well, too. This time when Tony unplugged his arm, James did pass out, and Sam made alarmed faces. Checking him over revealed nothing obviously wrong, though, thank fuck, and Sam gave him the go ahead to connect the new arm.

Swallowing back his worry, Tony secured the arm to the shoulder mount and plugged it in. That made James' unconscious body twitch almost convulsively, and Sam checked on him again, with the same result. 

"I see what you mean about him reacting really strangely," Sam said thoughtfully, once the skin had been glued down over the shoulder mount and they were just waiting for James to wake up. "It makes no sense, but he's out cold. Nothing in his vitals to suggest that he's stressed or injured enough to cause that sort of reaction, and yet..."

Tony nodded. "Exactly. Inexplicable reactions like that are usually bad."

"This one looks like maybe it ain't," Bucky put in, and leaned against Tony's side so he could wrap an arm around Tony's waist.

"I'd have to keep an eye on him for the next few days to be sure, and I doubt he'd tolerate that." Sam gave the still unconscious James the stink eye. "He's even worse about skipping medical than you, Tony."

James picked that moment to stir and peel open his eyes with a groan. "What...?"

"You did pass out this time," Tony informed him, taking a certain amount of satisfaction in the way James' eyes widened. "You're going to take it easy for the next few hours. Doctor's orders."

James glanced at Sam, very obviously hoping Tony had pulled that out of his ass, but Sam nodded solemnly. "I'll check on you one more time after we have some pizza," he said, "and if there are no issues then, you should be fine. But it's worrying that unplugging your arm incapacitates you like that."

Carefully moving the new arm, testing its range of movement and responses, James smiled. "It's worth it, though."


	6. Chapter 6

Tony woke the next morning, comfortably tangled up in his boyfriend's arms, and stretched with a pleased sigh. Bucky, awake long before he was, as usual, pulled Tony closer with a strong arm around his waist.

"G'mornin' sweetheart," his boyfriend greeted him, nuzzling at the skin behind his ear.

Unable to keep the sappy smile off his face, Tony twisted around until he could kiss his favourite dork, morning breath be damned. "Morning. Any news?"

"None yet, Boss," FRIDAY answered him, "but the law team should be able to give ye a definitive answer sometime today an' I expect Ms. Potts will, as well."

"Sounds like you gotta full docket, then," Bucky grumbled.

"So do you," Tony pointed out around a yawn. "Stick around after we eat."

The conversation got put on hold there while they dressed and went in search of breakfast. They found James happily experimenting with his new arm's sensors as he stood at the kitchen counter, running his fingers over various surfaces with both hands to work out what responses from the sensors meant what. It was kind of adorable.

He glanced up when they came in and grinned happily at Tony. It transformed his usually somber features, and sent a strong pang through Tony. He'd done that. It had been his engineering skills that made James feel like this.

"Mornin', James," Bucky said, grinning back and obviously enjoying seeing his double looking so pleased with the world at large. "Ya hungry?"

"I was just waiting for you two to show your faces. Peggy said she was going to have a working breakfast with Ms. Potts," he answered, and Tony felt like he was seeing double.

He watched Bucky take his new place next to James as they worked in tandem to prepare their usual mountain of protein and carbs and marveled at what he was witnessing. James even _sounded_ like Bucky, now.

The three of them didn't speak much as they ate, but the moment they were satisfied, Bucky turned to him. "So you said we had'ta stick around, Tony. What's that mean, exactly?"

"You and James will have to be here to plan with me and the team. We'll teleconference in Steve and the others for the sake of not having to waste time on the road. FRI, send the team text messages or something: they may have to phone in on short notice once the law team comes by to present their findings."

"Sure thing, Boss," FRIDAY agreed.

Bucky made a face. "You're gonna have'ta make sure your law men dumb it down enough for us. You're probably used to that kind of thing, but the rest of us ain't," he grumbled, and James nodded.

"None of us is stupid," James put in, "but we don't know the ins and outs of that stuff."

"Fair. Let me know if you get in over your heads." Tony had to admit to himself that he hadn't considered that aspect of this particular attempted trap of Ross'. If he and the team hadn't made up before this disaster had fallen into their laps, there were good odds that the team wouldn't have known what to do, or what avenues were open to them. The rest of them were good at fighting, but not used to the kinds of political and legal bullshit that he was.

Biting down on a wince, Tony shoved away the mental images of how that could have played out. Steve, strategist that he was, would only have seen the tactical consequences and acted on them. The rest of the team, used to following him and trusting him, would likely have accepted his leadership in that, too. It would have been a disaster; Steve would have probably resorted to his usual direct tactics and simply refused to sign, rendering himself and the team political exiles rather than try to look for a loophole or go public and try to leverage the media against Ross. There was no good ending to that. Not really. The team would have almost certainly been forced to leave the country and find a new home, which, considering that most nations were disposed to kick them right back out again, would have taken a while and rendered them entirely ineffective against any potential threats to the world. Not to mention that Steve would most likely have tried to stay in the US rather than flee, stubborn idiot that he was.

"Boss," FRIDAY jumped in when the silence had drawn out a little between them, "Mr. Simmons is suggesting that if the Avengers are going to teleconference in for his briefing of you, that it would be easiest to simply set a time and run with it."

"Alright, when's he want to do it?" Tony accepted that. It was a good suggestion, and he'd been working under the assumption that the law team wasn't quite finished with the job yet.

"In about half an hour, at 9," his AI informed him.

"Sounds good to me. Let everyone know?" Tony stood and stretched, then sauntered over to James. "How're those new sensors treating you?"

"It's... It's a bit disorienting, but I'll adjust," James answered gamely enough. "The feedback they give me makes a huge difference. I don't even care that they can't tell me everything my other hand can. I don't have to worry about crushing things by accident anymore."

They spent the time until the teleconference playing twenty questions about the arm. Had James tested it out in the gym yet? How did it perform? How was it affecting his balance? Was the dexterity good enough? Did the skin feel alright? What would need to be tweaked for the next upgrade?

James radiated fond tolerance with a distinct overtone of self satisfaction as he answered. Of course he'd tested it out in the gym. It wasn't nearly as overpowered as the metal arm, but that was good. He hadn't broken any equipment, or wrenched his shoulder, or anything. The prototype had thrown him a little bit off balance for the first few hours, but after that it had been fine, and this was barely any different to the prototype. The dexterity was something he was working on and wouldn't be able to comment on for at least another few days. He'd had issues with the dexterity of the metal arm at first, too, until he'd learned what commands to give it and when. The skin was fine, Tony, _stop worrying_, and he wouldn't need an upgrade for the foreseeable future.

Bucky interrupted him, then. "Tony, ya need to shift gears now," he said. "It's nearly 9."

Standing, James stretched, not bothering to hide that he was thoroughly enjoying having a properly designed arm that actually functioned as a counterweight to his right. "Will Ms. Potts be joining us for this?" He asked when he relaxed again.

Actually, that was a good question. "FRIDAY?"

"No, Boss, Ms. Potts has several meetings scheduled this morning, and will come by later this afternoon," his AI informed them, "but Ms. Carter has decided to join ye."

"Of course I have," Peggy agreed, as she stepped out of the elevator with Mr. Simmons. "Good morning, boys."

"Hi Pegs," Bucky responded with a grin. "Things are about to get interestin', I expect."

"Hi Peggy," Tony added his own greeting, then turned to his most trusted lawyer. "Mr. Simmons, have a seat. The rest of the team should be calling in shortly."

James glanced around the room, not fully happy to have a stranger among them but not nearly as edgy as he'd have been a week ago. "This calls for some coffee," he decided aloud, and vanished into the kitchen.

Tony rather suspected it was a convenient excuse to get out of the room for a couple of minutes, but said nothing. Peggy and Simmons settled themselves on the sofa opposite him and the plush armchair catty corner, respectively, just in time for the phone to ring and FRIDAY to pick up.

Simmons took in the assembled people at a glance and nodded. "Good morning, Avengers. Now that we're all here, all that's missing is the coffee."

Steve glanced at them and frowned. "Where's James?"

"Making the coffee," Tony said with a half-smile. "Won't be long. You got anything further to report while we wait? Further acts of dickery on Ross' part?"

With a huff that conveyed both amusement and irritation, Steve shook his head. "Nah. Like you said he would, he handed us a few reams of paper and left again. We found a few bugs that his people planted, but that was about it."

"Same as he tried to pull here, then," Bucky mused.

James came back out of the kitchen with a carafe of coffee and a handful of mugs. "I doubt that's all he did. It feels far too easy."

Simmons turned to Tony. "Before we get too deeply into this," he said and pointed at James with his chin, "I think you'd better introduce me to that young man properly."

Laughing, Peggy told him, "It's a story that will likely make your head hurt. Bucky and I got accidentally pulled here from the 40s -- the Avengers have some very odd accidents, as it turns out -- and James is who Bucky became in the linear version of the timeline."

Simmons blinked a few times, then shrugged and accepted it. "You could have just said they were twins," he pointed out.

"That's not strictly true," James pointed out. "We're the same person, just from different decades."

Steve cleared his throat. "If that's enough of an introduction, Mr. Simmons, I'd like to move things along. Tony's tech is good, but I'd still prefer that we not get spied on."

Tony couldn't help the put out look he gave Steve, but Simmons spoke up before he could start telling Steve just how ridiculous that statement was. 

"Well, Ross is Secretary of State -- whether we feel he's qualified for the position or not has no bearing right now, Mr. Stark -- and that puts this contract he's dropped in your laps in a legal grey area. The contract itself is pretty solid and doesn't have many loopholes we can exploit. However. The majority of you are either private citizens or contractors for SHIELD. That means you are not under the jurisdiction of the US Armed Forces or the Secretary of State. [13] Though Ross does have the authority to negotiate issues relating to US foreign affairs, and the Avengers' international actions do have some impact on that, he has no direct authority over SHIELD, the branches of the Armed Forces, or the governmental alphabet agencies like the FBI or CIA, and that means that if we can come up with a reasonable counterproposal, there is a very good chance that we would end up winning that legal battle."

Everyone was silent for a moment, mulling that over. Tony was more relieved than anything else. If there was a good chance to fight this out, that meant he had leverage, and the pressure he and Pepper planned to put on the government by threatening to pull out of their contracts would have a lot of effect.

Peggy made a thoughtful sound, then spoke up. "What kind of counterproposal would be effective, in your professional opinion?"

Sam threw his support behind her. "What she said."

Natasha and Wanda nodded.

Simmons shrugged. "That depends on what route you want to take as a team. You have a variety of options. First: sign the contract, and wait for Ross to make a mistake. Second: fight the contract and sue the government, and leave things there. You would have some time to regroup and let SHIELD try to protect you, but that wouldn't stop Ross and his compatriots for long. They'd find a new way to try to accomplish their goal and you'd be left repeating the same cycle, probably with less leeway to fight back. Third, and in my opinion most effective: come up with your own oversight committee and some kind of charter that specifies when and where your team will intervene in international conflicts."

"I'm for the third option," Bucky spoke up.

"Me too," Tony nodded and leaned against his boyfriend's shoulder briefly. "We need someone to protect us from this kind of legal bullshit, and SHIELD can't do it. They're not in a position to after what happened in DC. That revealed that a majority of the organisation was actually HYDRA and more or less tore their credibility to shreds. That means an international committee, and possibly members of the UN. We can't pick too many Americans, if any. That'd go over badly with the international community, especially what with Ross' involvement."

Natasha spoke up. "That sounds reasonable to me. Did you have anyone specific in mind?"

"No, but the Wakandans would be a good choice, along with anyone else that tends not to pick sides. The Swiss, maybe, though they have some odd ideas of what needs to be done and when, at times," Tony said with a shrug, watching Simmons' expression closely. "That ultimately doesn't matter too much, though. What we want is an oversight committee that the team has a say in selecting and is approved by the UN, and which has enough input on our non time-critical non world-threatening missions to satisfy the world that we're not just a bunch of loose cannons or instruments of the US government, but which can be overruled by the team at our own risk if something truly big pops up on the radar that we have to act on. Like the Chitauri coming back and hitting, I don't know, Tokyo. Simmons?"

His lawyer nodded, with a thoughtful look on his face. "That could work. Do you want us to put together the documents?"

Peggy put her hand up. "Time for a vote, I think. All in favour of Tony's idea?"

Bucky and Natasha immediately voted yes. James hesitated, but put his hand up. Sam was right behind him. Wanda bit her lip, but followed suit. When she did, so did the Vision.

Steve sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I want to see those documents before I agree. Preferably in plain language that I can understand," he said. "But the idea sounds solid."

"What do we do about Ross, though?" Sam demanded after a silence fell and drew out slightly. "I mean, he won't be happy that we tore his plan down around his ears. Man's been after getting control of the Avengers for years."

Simmons sighed quietly and spoke up before Tony could. "I'm afraid there really isn't much that _can_ be done, Mr. Wilson. Short of getting him removed from office and making sure he can't blackmail anyone else into acting out his plans for him, we'll simply have to settle for countering whatever he tries to pull."

"And rooting out his influence entirely, of course, is nearly impossible," Peggy said with a grimace. "That man is the worst kind of power hungry, and he already loathes Tony for evading his clutches for so long."

Tony offered her a slightly shamefaced smile and decided not to reveal his and Pepper's plan just yet, since Simmons hadn't mentioned it. "Well, I mean, pissing him off is great entertainment?"

Steve groaned and scrubbed at his face with his hands. "Jesus, Tony."

"Pissing you off is, too," Bucky put in, laughing when Steve glared at him in a clear attempt to set him on fire over the phone.

A look on his face that said he was biting back amusement of his own at their antics, Simmons stood. "I think that should cover the basics. We'll get things moving on the paperwork to block the contract and make a counterproposal. Mr. Stark, let me know if anything else related comes up that needs to be included in our deliberations. We'll try to have copies of the suggested charter and committee selection criteria ready for you to look over by the end of today or early tomorrow."

Tony stood and shook the man's hand. "Thanks, Simmons. You and your team are worth every cent, as always."

"We strive to do our best," he said and stepped back out into the foyer to wait for the elevator.

It didn't take long for the rest of the team to decide they weren't needed for the phone call any more and wander off to do whatever they felt needed doing. After the call had ended, Bucky pulled him in close, and Tony let himself lean against his boyfriend, taking comfort and strength from the touch.

"You did good today, sweetheart," Bucky murmured into his hair. "That was an elegant solution ya found, an' ya found it damned quickly."

Tony snorted. "I sure as hell don't want to be at Thunderbolt Ross' beck and call, which is essentially what would happen if we decided to take the easy route and the UN ended up with authority over the team. It's something of an open secret that the UN is basically controlled by the Big Four, and that the US tends to dominate that small group [14]. This way we basically have to appeal to the UN Security Council. They have the authority to make binding decisions regarding international disputes, so they're a major player in what will happen, going forward [15]. That's why a UN ratified committee. Doesn't take much to reach the answer."

"Maybe not, but you have to know all that to be able to find the answer," James pointed out. "Don't devalue your experience. No one else on the team brings that to the table."

"Tony?" Peggy broke in. "What are we going to do about getting James added to the team roster? That might well be the best way to protect him from any crazy attempts at legal reprisal if we go public about his existence and someone decides to take a potshot at him."

"James?" Tony turned to the man in question. "Is that something you'd want? Peggy's got a point, but it's not the only option."

"I don't know. Depends on what charter and committee I'd have to work with. And if I'd have the option to refuse missions," James said slowly. "I'd have to think that over."

"Well, it'll come out pretty much immediately that you used to be the Winter Soldier, if and when you do go public. We can make a pretty solid case for your rehabilitation, though, which ought to short circuit just about all attempts to take you to court," Tony told him. "I saw the HYDRA data Steve leaked. Very little of that is court admissible, since anything that they can bring against you has to be directly relevant and the source has to be reliable[16]. HYDRA is anything but a reliable source and only one or two of your missions was on American soil. On the other hand, we can get a number of character witnesses and experts to testify. If I have to, I'll call in a favour from Professor Xavier."

Looking at him with a mix of discomfort and confidence in his face, James changed the subject. "That's got me covered, I guess," he said, sounding a bit nonplussed about the idea of calling on a telepath for help. "What about Peggy?"

"She posed as my assistant when Ross showed up, so that she could listen in. As far as I'm concerned, we can make that permanent," Tony suggested. "That gives her lots of freedom to come and go and it's entirely believable that she'd be visiting the Avengers' compound often given my ties to the team."

"The best lies are firmly based in truth, and being underestimated is very rarely a bad thing," Peggy answered, obliquely accepting. "Don't expect me to pick up your dry cleaning, though. And luckily Bucky is already openly your boyfriend, so we needn't even worry about establishing his presence."

"Maybe we should go out to see and be seen, though," Tony said, hearing his own voice go thoughtful. "We haven't done that in a while. How do you feel about Paris, Bucky?"

He got a huff in reply. "I only ever saw it briefly, and that was while air raids were enough of a threat that people stayed indoors or underground as much as possible[17], so I wouldn't mind getting to see it properly. But shouldn't we stay in the country while this thing with Ross is unresolved?"

Tony shrugged. "Things like that have never really stopped me before. No one would question it."

Peggy and James exchanged a pained look that had Tony making a face at them in response.

"Stay in the country," James suggested. "Go to Los Angeles or something. You can go to Paris later. But going out to make sure people see you isn't a bad plan as long as you don't go painting a target on your back."

"It's far too late to prevent that," Peggy disagreed. "Ross painted it for him a few days ago."

"Fine, L.A. it is," Tony muttered. "Bucky?"

"Sure, sweetheart. I wouldn't mind a chance to spend a few hours away from all this," his boyfriend replied. "We'll spend the day out on the west coast tomorrow. You know how to surf?"

"No, but how hard can it be?" Tony said with a grin. "I make a living designing tech when I'm not in my suit and balancing on two very small thrusters when I am. Surfing shouldn't be too difficult to pick up."

Muttering under his breath about overconfidence, James started gathering up their abandoned coffee mugs. "I'm going with you," he declared as he stepped back into the kitchen, making Tony stare at him in surprise.

"Uhh, not that I don't like your company or anything, but that defeats the point of a date, James," he answered. "And if anyone spots you we'll be caught in a media storm that not even my excellent PR people can tame. Even if we use my private jet -- which I plan to -- there will be lots of people around, and the vast majority of them will be carrying cell phones and snapping photos of me and Bucky. You too, if you happen to be anywhere in the vicinity."

Peggy shook her head. "If you're out of town and someone finds him here, Tony," she pointed out, "that'll be just as much a disaster, if not more. At least if he's with you when he's spotted we'd have the advantage that the pair of them look pretty much identical now to work with. We could get away with claiming only Bucky was with you, as long as they don't both show up in the same photo."

Tony pinched at the bridge of his nose. "I guess we're staying in New York, Bucky," he grumbled. "Let's go hit up the clubs tonight, or something."

His boyfriend chuckled at him. "Sure. You can show me the world when we're not under attack," he reassured Tony and dropped a kiss on his cheekbone. "It'll wait that long. All we gotta do is give it a few more days. You and Ms. Potts got a plan to put pressure on Ross by makin' sure the guys he's got leverage on won't let him use it, and now we all got a plan to deal with that leash he wanted to put on the team."

"Legal means of dealing with attacks aren't as immediate as frontal assaults," Tony reminded him. "It'll take a lot longer than you think before this goes through -- and our proposal still might get rejected if Ross owns more people than I think he does."

"We can worry about that tomorrow. First, we gotta wait for your law men to get you that charter and the rest of the stuff you need to petition the UN or whatever it is you need to do to get your counterproposal heard." Bucky grinned at him. "Use your Tweeter or whatever ya called it."

"It's Twitter," James corrected him, "I know you know that."

"The last time I dared open Twitter, I got bombarded with theories about which member of my boyfriend's family had a bastard kid, and tabloid photos of him pasted next to bad cell phone pictures of that portrait of him that they have in the Smithsonian. It was deeply weird," Tony grumbled.

"No kiddin'. I dunno whether I'm more relieved that no one's guessed the truth or offended that they think one 'a my sisters might'a had a kid without a ring on her finger," Bucky agreed.

Her lips twitching in a hint of a smile, Peggy interjected, "Right, well, I think I shall leave you three to your own devices. I intend to go up to the Compound in a few hours. Trying to leverage the media is hardly a bad idea, but that is up to you to deal with."

"You going to be back tonight?" Tony asked her.

Peggy shook her head, making her perfectly coiffed curls bounce. "No. Likely not until tomorrow afternoon."

"You be careful, too. Ross might not know just how close to the mark he'd be getting, taking you, but that would have everyone on the team up in arms," he pointed out. "Not just me and Steve."

The smile tugging at her lips spread, and she nodded, acknowledging the point. "I will. Now, you three behave while I'm gone."

"Yes, mum," Bucky shot back, smart alec that he was.

"Call me 'mum', and I'll treat you like the five-year-old your behaviour evokes, Barnes," Peggy fired over her shoulder as she stepped onto the elevator, making Tony laugh and Bucky growl something impolite under his breath, irritated that she'd gotten the last word like that.

When the doors very promptly closed behind her, Tony and James exchanged a look.

"You know what, I'm not gonna touch that one with a ten foot pole," Tony quipped as he stepped away from his boyfriend and gestured for FRIDAY to pull up a holo interface for him.

Without a word, she lit up the nearest one and displayed his Twitter feed for him, ready and waiting for his input, should he choose to post anything.

Tony smiled. It was time to cause a few shock waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [13] The duties of the Secretary of State are pretty specific, and don't include what Ross is trying to do. [Wikipedia link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_State#Duties_and_responsibilities). Click here to return to text.
> 
> [14] The UN was originally founded bby the Big Four, and they continue to play have a very influential role in the body's decisions. [Wikipedia link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations#Founding). Click here to return to text.
> 
> [15] When international conflicts come up that aren't of a military sort, someone needs to have the authority to make a ruling and make both side stick to it. [Wikipedia link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council). Click here to return to text.
> 
> [16] TBH I'm playing it a bit fast and loose with just how admissible most of the information is that was leaked by Steve and Nat, but since you can make a convincing argument either way, I'm going with 'no'. A lawyer might tell you different, but I'm no lawyer. So. [Wikipedia link 1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admissible_evidence) | [Wikipedia link 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_\(law\)). Click here to return to text.
> 
> [17] Here I'm taking some slight historical liberties again, because I couldn't easily google whether the period I had in mind was one where Paris was under imminent threat of air raids or not. But there definitely were air raids and bombings, so we're just gonna run with it, because I said so. [Wikipedia link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_in_World_War_II). Click here to return to text.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Blueprints (art)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20300065) by [antigrav_vector](https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector)


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